The 2009 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup continues to gain momentum and this week’s stop at Dover, Delaware promises more of the same.

The pressure and the drama of the 2009 Chase has not disappointed, and more is sure to come this Sunday when the green flag drops for the AAA 400.

Dover is known for close-quarter racing and impressive side-by-side beating and banging, but its events also tend to shake up the points standings. The standings leader has changed after three of the track’s last four Chase races.

2004 — In the Chase’s first year, eventual series champion Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge) led off with a New Hampshire win. But he finished fifth at Dover; while the then-third-place Jeff Gordon finished third, taking the points lead.

Busch rallied back and won the championship in 2004, beating series runner-up Jimmie Johnson by eight points after the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

2005 — Points leader and eventual champion Tony Stewart (No. 14 Burger King Chevrolet) headed to Dover after finishing second at New Hampshire, but fell two laps down during the event, finishing 18th. He dropped to fifth in standings, while the winner of the event, Jimmie Johnson, shot to the top of the standings from his fifth-place spot. But in the end, Stewart came back to capture his second series championship.

2006 — Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) won the opening Chase race at New Hampshire and also assumed the points lead by 35 points. Harvick’s success was short-lived, though, when his engine blew at Dover, knocking him out of the top spot to fourth.

His Richard Childress Racing teammate, Jeff Burton (No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet), went on to win the race and jump four spots from fifth to the standings lead. Neither driver went on to win the championship, but rather it was Jimmie Johnson, who won the first of his three consecutive titles.

2007 — Then-second-year driver Clint Bowyer (No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet), won his first series race at New Hampshire last season, and Johnson held on to the points lead.

But when Johnson got to Dover, he finished two laps down in 14th, dropping him four spots in the Chase standings. Jeff Gordon finished 11th and took the top spot in the points.

2008 — Last year marks the one race among Dover’s last four Chase events that the standings leader in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup was not unseated afterward.

Edwards started the ‘08 Chase with the points lead, finishing third at both New Hampshire and Dover and remaining out front.