((I've included DNFs and the reasonings behind them as part of the results listing...lemme know if you like it or you don't. Also, I'm gonna be rewriting the rules page so that way it will be on a Google Doc instead of taking up space on the front page as part of the revamping of FURCAR.))

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"Live from the Dover International Speedway, this is FRN...the voice of FURCAR."

Fresh off the dramatic end to Season 1 of the 2015 FURCAR year, the stars of the Furry Cup Series rolled into Delaware to take on the concrete beast known as the Dover International Speedway. Dover is a track that drivers have a love-hate relationship with...they either love it because of high speeds generated from the 24 degrees of banking in the corners, or they hate it because of the tire wear and close quarters leading to massive pileups. But love it or hate it, the majority is in agreement that it takes a lot of effort, a sound car, a solid team performance in the pits, and even a little bit of luck to claim victory at the Monster Mile.

Coming into the weekend, the buzz around the garage was centered on rookie sensation E.J. Stripes, who scored a major upset win in the Coca-Cola 600 last weekend. A few people in the garage were critical of the fact that he won it on a fuel strategy gamble, but the tiger put those critics on edge after securing his second consecutive pole position with his best lap coming in at 159.972 mph, proving he can be fast on different types of circuits. Season 1 champion Iceroad Lion would start 2nd, while Ty Vulpintaur would earn the 3rd position despite having a spin in practice. He told our FRN pit reporters that he was trying a new approach, but it didn't work as planned and was lucky he didn't destroy the car, which is something that rarely happens in an incident at Dover.

When the green flag came out on race day, Stripes would get a good jump and lead the first 40 laps of the race, holding off Iceroad and Croco Chilton as they battled up front. It would be Stripes' teammate and car owner Shockey Rai coming to the front from his 5th starting position on lap 41 to take the lead, and the #54 Team Carolina Chevrolet would stretch the lead until the first caution came out at lap 75 for debris. Rai would retain the lead, followed by Vulpintaur, Dart Wuffy and Draco Potens, who had worked his way up nicely through traffic. Pole sitter Stripes would have to come back to pit road to have a wedge wrench removed from his car after a crewman couldn't get it out and was taken for a wild ride while trying to get it out. He was a little shaken up after that, but not injured in the incident and would continue in his place on pit road.

The green flag came out a few laps later, and it started to become clear that Rai had the dominant car of the day. He would pull away by a considerable margin from the 6 and 88, with Wildfox and Coco Bennington joining the fray as well. But the more they fought each other, the further the Raichu in the 54 got from them as he was putting on an electrifying display of driving for lack of better words, and even after a series of green flag pit stops, the lead would continue to grow. It wasn't until lap 164 when Vulpintaur got up out of the groove and into the wall that the yellow flag would come back out and bring the field together again. He would continue on, but would be considerably off the pace as once again, it would be the 54 getting off of pit road first. Potens would come off 2nd, followed by Wildfox, Kasey the Husky and Eddie T. Wolf. The next caution would be brought out ten laps later after Stripes, who was mired in the back after the pit road miscue, could not avoid the spinning car of Jackie Caldoon after contact between her and Bennington sent the #02 Tanuki Trax Chevrolet careening out of control down the frontstretch. She was clearly not happy with the bear's aggressive driving, saying that it was "too early to be pulling off (stuff) like that."

When racing resumed, it was the same old story with Rai checking out on the field, though this time it wouldn't be by as much as Kasey was starting to at least stabilize the gap between 1st and 2nd, saying that he was "starting to get it together" as the run progressed. Wildfox and Eddie had stabilized their distance between them and 2nd, though Croco was starting to poke his nose into that battle as the run progressed. Green flag stops would soon come up again, but so would the caution as a tire would get away from the #34 team's pit box after Wildfox completed his stop on lap 262. Luckily he was the last car to have service, so there weren't any cars out of sequence when the green flag came back out...and it would be Kasey getting the jump and actually leading a couple laps before Rai would power his way back to the point. It was starting to appear as if it would be another long green run to the checkered flag as Rai continued to show the way, but Kasey and Potens were starting to track him down, or at least not let him get so far out in front as another set of green flag stops would come to pass. Right after, Dart Wuffy, who had been hovering around the top 5 all day, came back down pit road after complaining about a bad vibration and thinking that there was a loose lugnut. His crew would put four new tires on and send him on his way...only for Dart to come back on the radio and say that the vibration had gotten even worse. Baffled, the team decided to have him pull into the garage, only to find out that he had a broken control arm and thus, their race was over after 346 of the 400 laps.

The caution would come back out at lap 377 for Croco Chilton hitting the wall in Turn 3 after a brush with Potens. The crocodile had a strong #15 Ford Fusion, but could not fault Draco too much as it was getting late in the race. After the restart, Mitch Brown and Coco Bennington would come together, sending the #62 sliding down the backstretch...and into the side of the #40 of Iceroad Lion, sending him spinning as well. They would continue on with their battered cars, staying on the lead lap after fixing as much of the damage as they could...but even then it wasn't enough as a piece would come off one of the cars with two laps to go, setting the stage for a green-white-checkered. The last one who wanted to see that was Shockey Rai, as he had a 1.5-second lead over Kasey the Husky, and would have to hold him off on the restart. When it went back to green, Rai and Kasey were side-by-side going off into Turn 1 with neither getting that much of an advantage over the other. They made it back around for the white flag with the 54 just ahead of the 35 as they set off into 1 and 2 for the final time. Down the backstretch, Rai would clear Kasey as they set up for Turn 3, but the husky was able to draw up alongside him on the outside, hoping that the Cole Trickle power move would work.

But Kasey could only get to the door as Shockey Rai punctuated a dominating performance by holding him off by a half-carlength. Draco Potens would come home 3rd, followed by Wildfox and Eddie T. Wolf. The last cars across the line were side-by-side as well, with Bennington just squeaking out ahead of Iceroad for what turned out to be the 7th position. After the race, Coco would go and confront Mitch Brown over his role in her accident with the 40, and there would be a shouting match in which FURCAR officials and even Croco Chilton, who retired from the race after his accident, had to intervene...with the quote to remember from that being "Don't poke the (expletive deleted) bear, or she's gonna bite your ass back!" With the season just getting underway, the points picture has yet to take form, but the top 3 of Wildfox, Eddie T. Wolf and Iceroad Lion were able to further increase their gap on 4th place Ty Vulpintaur after the foxtaur's issues. In 5th place, Coco Bennington surpassed her car owner Croco Chilton to take that position, while Shockey Rai was unable to push up the rankings further after his poor restart nearly cost him his 2nd win of the year. The next stop for the FURCAR Furry Cup Series is in the picturesque Pocono Mountains to take on arguably the most unique of the FURCAR tracks in Pocono Raceway, where the creators ditched the circle for a triangular approach...and where one famous FURCAR driver back in the day stated that they "ran short tracks, speedways, road courses, and that damned triangle at Pocono!"

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Pole Award Winner

7 - E.J. Stripes (22.504 sec. / 159.972 mph)

Race Results

1. 54 - Shockey Rai (5) - 179 (tie with 35 broken by top-5s)
2. 35 - Kasey the Husky (10) - 179
3. 24 - Draco Potens (8) - 163
4. 34 - Wildfox (12) - 162
5. 53 - Eddie T. Wolf (11) - 159
6. 41 - Mitch Brown (7) - 150
7. 62 - Coco Bennington (9) - 146 (tie with 40 broken by race winner)
8. 40 - Iceroad Lion (2) - 146
9. 6 - Ty Vulpintaur (3) - 141
10. 15 - Croco Chilton (4) - 119 (DNF - Accident)
11. 88 - Dart Wuffy (6) - 118 (DNF - Suspension)
12. 02 - Jackie Caldoon (13) - 107 (DNF - Accident)
13. 7 - E.J. Stripes (1) - 97 (DNF - Accident)

Perfect Picks: Johnson, Harvick, Larson, Almirola, Ragan, Stewart - 229 points

Season Standings - After 1 of 12 races

1. Shockey Rai (179, 1 win)
2. Kasey the Husky (0, 0)
3. Draco Potens (-16, 0)
4. Wildfox (-17, 0)
5. Eddie T. Wolf (-20, 0)
6. Mitch Brown (-29, 0)
7. Coco Bennington (-33, 0)
8. Iceroad Lion (-33, 0)
9. Ty Vulpintaur (-38, 0)
10. Croco Chilton (-60, 0)
11. Dart Wuffy (-61, 0)
12. Jackie Caldoon (-72, 0)
13. E.J. Stripes (-82, 0)

Overall Standings - After 13 of 36 races

1. Wildfox (2269, 2 wins)
2. Eddie T. Wolf (-7, 2)
3. Iceroad Lion (-9, 1)
4. Ty Vulpintaur (-124, 2)
5. Coco Bennington (-136, 1)
6. Croco Chilton (-152, 1)
7. Dart Wuffy (-185, 1)
8. Draco Potens (-203, 0)
9. Jackie Caldoon (-205, 0)
10. Shockey Rai (-217, 2)
11. Mitch Brown (-341, 0)
12. Redstar Husky (-541, 0)
13. Kasey the Husky (-1926, 0)
14. E.J. Stripes (-1975, 1)