DOVER, Del. — There is an extremely high level of concern for 11 teams in the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup this week.

The reason for all that worrying is because the No. 48 crew and driver Jimmie Johnson are going to a track this weekend that they are simply awesome at.

Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus and the 48 team have won seven times at Dover International Speedway. The seventh victory at “The Monster Mile” happened in June in dominating fashion. That win tied Johnson, who is currently the Sprint Cup points leader, for the most Dover victories in Cup history with two NASCAR Hall of Famers — Richard Petty and Bobby Allison.

If Johnson prevails for the eighth time at Dover, he will deliver a powerful statement to the rest of the Chase field. That statement would be if the other drivers plan to win the Cup championship, they will need to go through the 48 team — AGAIN.

To paraphrase Tony Stewart, if Johnson captures another checkered flag at Dover, the other Chase drivers better be worried.



SUNDAY’S AAA 400

At Dover International Speedway

TOP FIVE CONTENDERS

1. JOHNSON: If he wins this weekend, I hope he doesn’t wear that hideous-looking rainbow wig in Victory Lane again. Sorry, Jimmie, but you looked ridiculous wearing that thing. What some of these drivers will do for their sponsors.

2. MATT KENSETH: Dover might be Kenseth’s best chance to become a factor in the Chase. He has always ran well at the concrete track, as he has nine top-five finishes in the last 11 Dover races.

3. CARL EDWARDS: I’m going to give Cousin Carl another shot even though he has flat-out stunk the past several weeks (no top-10s in the last five races). Edwards’ career average finish at Dover is a sound 8.5, and he has four top-10s in the last five Dover events.

4. KYLE BUSCH: He has been running well at Dover lately, finishing in the top 10 four times in the last five races. If he can stop blaming all of his problems on his crew chief, Dave Rogers, which has been a common theme as of late, he might actually have a decent run on Sunday.

5. GREG BIFFLE: Like his teammate Kenseth, Biffle has a great shot to get his Chase turned around at Dover. His career average finish at the mile oval is 12.2, which includes a pair of wins.



SUNDAY’S DARK HORSE

• MARK MARTIN: Dover has always been a great track for Martin. He has four career victories, 23 top-five finishes and 31 top-10s at Dover. In addition, he is driving the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota that has been fast all year.



DRIVER MOST LIKELY TO STRUGGLE

• JUAN MONTOYA: It seems that Montoya is in this section a lot. Why is that? Well, he does not take care of his equipment, he usually runs into every vehicle on the race track, including jet dryers, and he thinks a stock car handles like an IndyCar. He has tried to apply that formula at Dover and guess what? It does not work. The end results at Dover — no wins, one top-five, two top-10s and a career average finish of 23.4. Plus he has five finishes of 30th or worse at “The Monster Mile.” Need I say more.



PARTING SHOT

• On Sept. 15, longtime motorsports broadcaster Bob Jenkins announced his final race of his career, the IndyCar regular-season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., for NBC Sports Network. Jenkins decided to step away from the broadcast booth to take care of his wife Pam, who is batting brain cancer.

When I started really watching NASCAR in the early 1990s, I always looked forward to a Cup race if it was on ESPN because I knew Jenkins, the late Benny Parsons and NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett would be doing the broadcast.

They were the best at their craft and Jenkins was the leader of that group. Not only were Jenkins’ broadcasts informative, he also would get emotionally involved in the race like when the late Dale Earnhardt and Ricky Rudd spun each other out in the late stages at North Wilkesboro once. Jenkins’ voice reached high octaves that day.

Jenkins also was brilliant when he called the Indianapolis 500 for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network. He called the final lap of the 1992 Indy 500 when Al Unser Jr. nipped Scott Goodyear at the finish line by .043 seconds.

In my opinion, Jenkins should at least be nominated for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He helped ESPN become involved in broadcasting NASCAR races in the late 70s and early 80s. In turn, that helped the sport become more popular across the United States.

Jenkins plans on staying involved with IMS by being a part of the track’s public-address announcing team during the Indy 500. But he will be missed for the professionalism and passion he brought to the broadcast booth.

It was a pleasure watching and listening to you, Bob.

Contact Kevin Harris at kevin.harris@newsandtribune.com. You can follow him on Twitter @NT_KevinHarris.