Despite Criticism, Passing Was Actually Way up at Dover From a Year Ago

Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Matt DiBenedetto and numerous others described Monday’s Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway as a parade. According to these drivers there was no ability to make passes, all you could do was follow the guy in front of you.

Sure, lead changes this time around decreased by two from the Spring Dover race a year ago, but quality passes throughout the field were actually up — significantly according to NASCAR’s loop data.

A quality pass is defined as a pass made under green flag conditions against a car that is inside the top-15. In last year’s spring race at Dover there were 356 quality passes performed during the 400-mile event.

Monday’s race had 662 quality passes throughout the day, which equates to nearly a 100-percent increase from last year’s race. Maybe the guys who were upset about the race, just didn’t like their cars. Passing, when you look at the hard stats, didn’t appear to be a problem at Dover — at least when compared to year’s past.