Why 43 cars

Ryan Newman , No. Newman earned the beneficiary pass after the third caution flag and managed to stay only one lap down as the race progressed.

He advanced to the second round of the Chase. Sam Hornish Jr. Hornish and his team chased the handling of his No. Danica Patrick , No. Patrick worked with her team to help her No. David Ragan , No. Austin Dillon , No. Casey Mears , No. Paul Menard , No. Menard rolled off the grid 14th and almost immediately went backward as he watched his first Chase run fade. Tony Stewart , No. But on Sunday, the driver of the No.

Justin Allgaier , No. Allgaier received the beneficiary pass during the competition caution, but spent much of the race looking for mid-corner grip.

Cole Whitt , No. Like his teammate Brett Moffitt , Whitt discovered that his car improved around Dover as the 1-mile concrete oval took on rubber. AJ Allmendinger , No. Allmendinger was going too fast trying to get onto pit road when he spun up the track on Lap David Gilliland , No.

Trevor Bayne , No. Halfway through a fuel run when the fifth caution flag was waved, Bayne elected to take the wave-around like most cars one or more laps down. Alex Bowman , No. Bowman and his team continually made adjustments on the No. Reed Sorenson , No. Matt DiBenedetto , No. Yeley, No. Long green-flag runs were a struggle Sunday for Yeley.

Josh Wise , No. Wise sustained minimal nose damage after making contact with Jeb Burton on Lap 3. Michael Annett , No. Alex Kennedy , No. Kennedy rolled off the grid 36th in his Dover debut. Timmy Hill , No. Starting 43rd at the fast 1-mile oval made forward progress an immediate issue for Hill in his fourth Dover appearance. Landon Cassill , No. Jimmie Johnson , No.

A torn rear axle seal sidelined Johnson in his th Cup start and ended his quest for a seventh championship. Brett Moffitt , No. These days, there are typically only one or two cars sent home — if that.

According to Jayski. That number jumped to 22 of 36 races last season alone. This year, that's been the case in four of 16 races. Some people point to quality over quantity. Three years ago, there were more cars but also an abundance of start-and-park teams who would show up and quit after a few laps. These days, start-and-parkers have become scarce. The last time a driver start-and-parked was the April 12 race at Darlington Raceway. I think that's what's going to make a good race.

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