2018 Gander Outdoors 400 (Dover)

The 2018 Gander Outdoors 400 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on October 7, 2018 at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 404 laps -- extended from 400 laps due to an overtime finish, on the one-mile (1.6 km) concrete speedway, it was the 30th race of the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, fourth race of the Playoffs, and the first race of the Round of 12.

Background
Dover International Speedway (formerly Dover Downs International Speedway) is a race track in Dover, Delaware, United States. Since opening in 1969, it has held at least two NASCAR races. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the Verizon IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1 mi concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.

The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

First practice
Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 21.892 seconds and a speed of 164.444 mph.

Qualifying
Qualifying for Friday was cancelled due to rain and Kyle Busch, the point leader, was awarded the pole as a result.

Second practice
Second practice session scheduled for Saturday was cancelled due to rain.

Final practice
Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 22.640 seconds and a speed of 159.011 mph.

Stage 1
Rain washed out qualifying so the field lines up based on owner points. Kyle Busch(18) and Kevin Harvick sit on the front row. Johnson’s troubles continued, even before the start of the race. He had to return to the garage area for an issue with the front suspension on the 48 car. A cracked ball joint cost Johnson his shot at victory and relegated him to a 36th place finish. A total of 17 laps down to the leaders.

From the pole, Kyle Busch jumped to the early lead. On lap 16, Harvick returned to the top spot. The position he held at the conclusion of the Dover race in May when he swept both stages and took the race win. Harvick led 98 of the 120 laps that made up Stage 1 in the Gander Outdoors 400.

Stage 2
It’s looking more like the spring race as Harvick leads 107 of the 120 laps in Stage 2. He sweeps both Stages, just as he did earlier this year at Dover. Can he complete the sweep with 160 laps to go in the final segment of the race?

The Final Stage
Harvick continued his dominance through lap 320 of 400 when he made a green flag pit stop. He returned to the pits one lap later with a flat right rear tire. During the pit stop, his crew damaged the valve stem allowing all the air to leak out. Kyle Busch took over the lead briefly until he pitted. Too fast on pit road and Busch had to return to the pits for a drive-through penalty. Both lost a lap.

With the leaders having pit trouble Aric Almirola(10) moved to the front. The yellow came out for the first time other than the end of a Stage when Ross Chastain(15) lost an axle. It hit the door of Joey Logano opening a hole in the sheet metal and then came to rest on the lower portion of the track.

Clint Bowyer hit the wall with 8 laps to go bringing out a late caution. All the leaders pitted except Elliott, Keselowski, and Truex Jr. who decided to take their chances on tires that had 55 laps on them. Denny Hamlin(11) and Alex Bowman(88) took 2 tires and came out of the pits ahead of Almirola who took 4 new Goodyears. As a result, the fastest guy and the guy with the newest tires was restarting 6th.

After leading late at Daytona, coming close at New Hampshire, and several other strong runs Almirola had yet to win in 2018. Would today be the day?

Keselowski spun his tires on the restart and held up the bottom line. In the middle of Turns 1 and 2, Almirola on the high side made it 3 wide for 3rd. He tapped the wall coming out of Turn 2. As Almirola bounced off the wall he banged fenders with Keselowski triggering a wreck at the end of the backstretch. The track was blocked with safety equipment and NASCAR was forced to display the red flag while they cleaned up the mess.

Bowman and Truex Jr. also suffered damage in the melee. The restart forced the event into overtime. Elliott and Hamlin led the pack of cars into the green-white-checkered finish. Elliott pulled away clear of the rest of the field and won his 2nd race of the year. It was also the 2nd win of his career and advanced Elliott into the next round of the playoffs.

Stage Results
Stage 1 Laps: 120

Stage 2 Laps: 120

Final Stage Results
Stage 3 Laps: 160

Race statistics

 * Lead changes: 8 among different drivers
 * Cautions/Laps: 5 for 31
 * Red flags: 1 for 4 minutes and 59 seconds
 * Time of race: 3 hours, 18 minutes and 2 seconds
 * Average speed: 122.404 mph

Television
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, 2006 race winner Jeff Burton, Steve Letarte and 2001 race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.

Radio
MRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Standings after the race

 * Manufacturers' Championship standings
 * Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.