The 2017 AAA 400 Drive for Autism was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on June 4, 2017, at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Delaware. Contested over 406 laps, extended from 400 laps due to overtime, on the concrete speedway, it was the 13th race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
, this race was the most recent career win (his 83rd) for seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, who retired from full time competition after the 2020 season, but returned on a part-time basis at the 2023 Daytona 500.
Ross Chastain and Ryan Sieg both made their first Cup Series start at the event, finishing 20th and 26th respectively.
Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 15 Ross Chastain (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Gray Gaulding (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 34 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Regan Smith (i) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 66 Timmy Hill (i) MBM Motorsports Chevrolet 72 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 83 Ryan Sieg (i) BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list
First practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 22.512 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 22.512 159.915 2 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.556 159.603 3 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.585 159.398Official first practice results
Qualifying
Kyle Busch scored the pole for the race with a time of 22.648 and a speed of . He said afterwards that it means "a little bit for us (his team)" to go "sit on the pole here" because it grants "a really good pit selection for Sunday" and to boot, "gives us the track position. We know the 78 car (Truex said) is going to be fast – they always are – and one of the guys we're going to have to race against", Busch added. "There's going to be many others that are starting farther back that we'll be racing against, too, before the end of the day, but we'll work on our Dogs Rule Pedigree Camry tomorrow in practice and make sure we get a good race setup underneath us, so we can hopefully stay up front."
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 118 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.892 22.554 22.648 278 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 22.665 22.748 22.659 319 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.731 22.789 22.735 420 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.760 22.764 22.753 542 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 22.644 22.756 22.759 641 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas RacingFord 22.692 22.627 22.764 777 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 22.766 22.738 22.831 82 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 22.877 22.829 22.874 93 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22.927 22.782 22.914 1011 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.916 22.828 22.925 1188 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.889 22.830 23.037 1217 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 22.762 22.634 23.077 1331 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22.989 22.836 — 1448 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.955 22.851 — 1521 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22.930 22.865 — 1624 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.831 22.881 — 176 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 22.958 22.887 — 184 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 22.921 22.892 — 191 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 22.751 22.907 — 205 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.945 22.928 — 2113 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 22.955 22.968 — 2214 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas RacingFord 22.910 22.978 — 2327 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22.966 23.011 — 2447 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 22.956 23.015 — 2532 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 23.017 — — 2622 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23.042 — — 2734 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 23.047 — — 2895 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 23.067 — — 2937 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 23.120 — — 3043 Regan Smith (i) Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 23.136 — — 3110 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 23.162 — — 3223 Gray Gaulding (R) BK Racing Toyota 23.269 — — 3338 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 23.288 — — 3483 Ryan Sieg (i) BK Racing Toyota 23.514 — — 3572 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 23.696 — — 3615 Ross Chastain (i) Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 23.738 — — 3766 Timmy Hill (i) MBM Motorsports Chevrolet 23.864 — — 3851 Cody Ware Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 23.988 — — 3933 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 24.036 — — Official qualifying results
Practice (post-qualifying)
Second practice Kyle Busch was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 22.779 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.779 158.040 2 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22.795 157.929 3 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 22.803 157.874Official second practice results
Final practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 22.870 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 22.870 157.411 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.886 157.301 3 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.894 157.246Official final practice results
Race First stage
Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 1:19 p.m. The first run of green flag racing lasted just 17 laps before Ryan Sieg went for a solo spin in Turn 2, bringing out the first caution of the race. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. opted not to pit under the caution and assumed the race lead. Exiting pit road, Busch's left-rear tire detached from the car. It was found that one of the airguns the 18 team used to change the tires didn't switch to the setting required to tighten the lug nuts.
Back to green on lap 22, Martin Truex Jr. achieved a better restart and took the lead. Staying out proved costly for Stenhouse on lap 47 when his right-front tire went flat and his car slammed the wall in Turn 3, bringing out a second caution. Kyle Larson took just right-side tires and exited pit road with the race lead. Chase Elliott (speeding) and Denny Hamlin (uncontrolled tire) restarted from the tail-end of the field on the ensuing restart for pit road infractions.
Restarting on lap 52, the race remained green for the next 10 laps before Stenhouse slammed the wall a second time in Turn 4, bringing out the third caution.
On the lap 65 restart, Kurt Busch got loose underneath Larson in Turn 1, overcorrected, turned up the track and slammed into Brad Keselowski, sending him into the wall, bringing out the fourth caution. Keselowski called the incident "one of them racing deals" and the field just "[lined] up double file and somebody got loose and just took us out. What a bummer. Just one of them racing deals."
The race restarted on lap 70. Truex caught Larson five laps later and the two ran side-by-side for four laps. Truex gave Larson a shove heading down the backstretch on lap 80, making Larson loose going into Turn 3 and allowing Truex to take the lead. Busch suffered a left-rear tire blowout, spun out and rear-ended the wall in Turn 1 on lap 96, bringing out the fifth caution. Busch said he "got loose on a restart" and it was his "bad as a driver. We had good speed in our car and just couldn't finish. You can't make mistakes out here and we did."
The race returned to green on lap 104 and Truex won the first stage, bringing out the sixth caution on lap 120 for the end of the stage. Larson opted not to pit and took the lead. Trevor Bayne restarted from the tail-end of the field on the following restart for speeding on pit road.
Second stage When the race resumed on lap 128, Larson started pulling away from the field. By lap 134, he was two seconds ahead of Matt Kenseth in second. By lap 140, that lead grew to 3.6 seconds. Danica Patrick brought out the seventh caution on lap 144 when she spun out in Turn 4. Michael McDowell took the lead after opting not to pit.
Larson retook the lead with ease on the lap 150 restart. Unlike the short-run, caution-filled first stage, the second stage settled into a green flag lull with 43 straight laps of green flag racing. Larson pulled to a lead of roughly three seconds and held there until caution flew for the eighth time on lap 193 when Joey Logano's right-front tire went flat and he slammed the wall in Turn 3.
Larson spun the tires on the lap 198 restart, but maintained the lead over Truex. As opposed to the last run, Larson drove away from the field, Truex caught Larson on lap 209 and passed him in Turn 1 to take the lead on lap 212. Caution flew for the ninth time on lap 219 when Landon Cassill's right-front tire went flat and his car slammed the wall in Turn 2. Truex exited pit road with the race lead, while Larson exited 19th.
The race resumed on lap 222 and Truex won the second stage, and caution flew for the 10th time for the conclusion of the stage. Larson took just right-side tires and exited pit road with the race lead. Ryan Blaney broke a rear axle on the pit stop and took his car to the garage. He returned to the race two laps down.
Final stage
Two laps after the lap 248 restart, Truex got loose and lost second to Jimmie Johnson. Debris on the frontstretch brought out the 11th caution on lap 263.
Resuming green flag conditions with 132 laps to go, the race remained green long enough for a cycle of green flag pit stops with 75 to go. Larson pitted from the lead the following lap, handing it to Johnson. Regan Smith, driving in place of the injured Aric Almirola, slammed the wall in Turn 2 after his right-front tire went flat bringing out the 12th caution. Ty Dillon exited pit road with the race lead.
The race returned to green with 65 to go. Exiting Turn 2 with 58 to go, Chris Buescher got loose and into Paul Menard, sending him into the inside wall on the backstretch, bringing out the 13th caution.