2023 Würth 400

The 2023 Würth 400 was a NASCAR Cup Series race held on May 1, 2023, at Dover Motor Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 400 laps on the 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete speedway, it was the 11th race of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season. The race was postponed from Sunday, April 30 to Monday, May 1, due to rain. This is the first Dover race broadcast on Performance Racing Network on radio after Speedway Motorsports purchased the track before the 2022 season but still aired on rival International Speedway Corporation's Motor Racing Network.

Report

Background

Dover Motor Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that held at least one NASCAR race each year since 1969, including two per year from 1971 to 2020. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Speedway 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. In 2022, Speedway Motorsports purchased the track.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver.
* (i) denotes the driver ineligible for series driver points.

Practice

Brad Keselowski was the fastest in the practice session with a time of 22.690 seconds and a speed of .

Practice results

Qualifying

Qualifying was cancelled due to inclement weather. Kyle Busch was awarded the pole for the race as a result of NASCAR's pandemic formula with a score of 3.500

Starting lineup

Race

Race results

Stage results

Stage One
''Laps:'' 120

Stage Two
''Laps:'' 130

Final Stage results

Stage Three
''Laps:'' 150

Race statistics

* Lead changes: 19 among 8 different drivers
* Cautions/Laps: 7 for 46 laps
* Red flags: 0
* Time of race: 3 hours, 27 minutes, and 47 seconds
* Average speed:

Media

Television

Fox Sports covered the race on the television side. Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer and 1989 NASCAR Cup Series champion and two-time Dover winner Rusty Wallace called the race from the broadcast booth. Jamie Little and Regan Smith handled the pit road for the television side. Larry McReynolds provided insight from the Fox Sports studio in Charlotte.

Radio

PRN had the radio call for the race and was also simulcasted on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio. This was the first Dover race covered by PRN as the radio rights was shifted from MRN Radio after the 2022 season. Doug Rice & Mark Garrow called the race from the broadcast booth when the field raced down the front straightaway. Pat Patterson called the race from atop a scaffold when the field raced thru turns 3 & 4. Brad Gillie, Brett McMillan, and Wendy Venturini called the race for PRN from pit lane.

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Manufacturers' Championship standings

*Note: Only the first 16 positions are included for the driver standings.
*. – Driver has clinched a position in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Notes

References

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Würth 400
Würth 400
NASCAR races at Dover Motor Speedway
Würth 400