2019 Gander RV 400

*For the Pocono race of the same name, see 2019 Gander RV 400 (Pocono).*

The **2019 Gander RV 400** was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on May 6, 2019, at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 400 laps on the 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete speedway, it was the 11th race of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season. The race was postponed from Sunday, May 5 to Monday, May 6 due to rain.

## Report

### Background

Dover International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1 mile (1.6 km) 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

Kurt Busch was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 21.372 seconds and a speed of 168.445 mph (271.086 km/h).

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## Qualifying

 File:Chase elliott (46902709945).jpg
Chase Elliott scored the pole for the race with a time of 21.692 and a speed of 165.960 mph (267.087 km/h).

### Qualifying results

* Four cars were sent to the back at the start of the race (Nos. 19, 36, 47, 88). The 36 of Matt Tifft was also forced to complete a pass through penalty on the start because of failing inspection after qualifying 3 times.

## Practice (post-qualifying)

### Second practice

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

### Final practice

Jimmie Johnson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 22.241 seconds and a speed of 161.863 mph (260.493 km/h).

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## Race

Just as 37 cars took the track for warm-up laps, the rain began again. Bringing the field back to pit road before the green flag could wave. The skies opened and drenched the track. With more rain in the forecast, NASCAR postponed the race until Noon on Monday.

### Stage 1

#### Start

Chase Elliott jumped out quickly to a one-second lead, lapping 13 cars before the caution flew on Lap 40. He was also the first to leave pit road after the competition yellow stop. No one experienced tire problems during the opening portion of the race.

On the restart, after the scheduled caution, Joey Logano got a great jump. But, he could not take the lead away from Elliott who again began to stretch the advantage at the front of the field.

Kyle Larson passed Logano to move into the second spot. While Logano could not catch Elliott, Larson began to chip away at the lead. With 35 laps to go in the opening Stage, Martin Truex Jr. drove into the top 10 after starting at the rear of the field. A few laps later, Alex Bowman, who also was penalized for inspection violations, joined Truex in the top 10.

With 15 laps to go, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had his right front go down and he hit the wall bringing out the caution for the 2nd time. Logano, who only took 2 tires on his pit stop, was 1st out of the pits followed by William Byron, Chase Elliott, who changed all 4 tires exited 3rd.

With 5 laps to go in Stage 1, Quin Houff experienced a right front tire failure and like Stenhouse, he also hit the wall bringing out a caution. Using a quick caution format, where anyone can pit regardless of laps down, NASCAR was able to restart the stage with 1 lap to go, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Elliott, and Kevin Harvick lined up for the race to the Stage win.

### Stage 2

Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott led the field to the restart. With the race leader starting on the outside row they are able to launch fast into Turn 1. Keselowski proved that point as he outraced Elliott for the top spot.

Green flag pit stops began at the halfway point of the Stage. After pit stops cycled through it was Chase Elliott back out front and Brad Keselowski in second. Until Alex Bowman moved past and began to track down his Hendrick Motorsports teammate.

With 20 laps to go in the Stage, Alex Bowman was on the bumper of Chase Elliott. Battling side by side for a couple of laps allowed Harvick, in 3rd, to close up on the leaders. With 17 laps to go Bowman moved to the front with Harvick following him pass Elliott into 2nd.

As the laps wound down, Kevin Harvick made a run at Alex Bowman, but could not complete the pass. Truex joined the battle and jumped ahead of Harvick. After taking the white flag for one lap to go in the stage, Alex Bowman drove too high into Turn 1 allowing Martin Truex Jr. to pass on the inside. stealing the stage win for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

### Final Stage

They lined up coming to the final stage restart with Martin Truex Jr out front. Followed by Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, and Brad Keselowski, With 135 laps to go, Denny Hamlin brought out a caution when he cut down a right rear tire and spun trying to get to pit road.

Almost all the leaders stayed on track with the exception of Kyle Busch. After brushing the wall earlier, Busch wanted to make sure the fenders weren’t rubbing and could cause a problem similar to Denny Hamlin's.

Back to green and Martin Truex Jr. again started to add to his lead interval.

Pit stops under the green flag during the final stage began on Lap 80. After everyone had made their way to the pits for service Truex was back out front with a 4-second lead and only 12 cars on the lead lap.

With 40 laps to go, the last to first twins Truex and Bowman ran 1st and second. Truex led by a little under 4 seconds with Bowman almost 4 seconds up on 3rd place Larson.

### Finish

By the finish, Martin Truex Jr had doubled his lead and coasted to the easy victory, His 2nd win of the year and 21st cup victory of his career. Bowman finished 2nd. Dover was the site of Truex first Cup Series victory and this was the 2nd time he has won a race there on Monday after a rain delay.

### Stage results

 File:Joey logano (46902709435).jpg
**Stage One**
*Laps:* 120

**Stage Two**
*Laps:* 120

### Final stage results

 File:Martin truex jr. (47029495724).jpg
**Stage Three**
*Laps:* 160

### Race statistics

* Lead changes: 15 among 11 different drivers
* Cautions/Laps: 6 for 31
* Red flags: 0
* Time of race: 3 hours, 8 minutes and 37 seconds
* Average speed: 127.242 miles per hour (204.776 km/h)

## Media

### Television

Fox Sports covered their 19th race at the Dover International Speedway. Mike Joy, five-time Dover winner Jeff Gordon and two-time Dover winner Darrell Waltrip had the call in the booth for the race. Jamie Little, Vince Welch and Matt Yocum handled the action on pit road for the television side.

### Radio

MRN had the radio call for the race which was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

 **Lead announcer:** Alex Hayden**Announcer:** Jeff Striegle**Announcer:** Rusty Wallace | **Backstretch:** Mike Bagley | Jason ToySteve PostDillon WelchKim Coon

## References

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