Chase Elliott won the pole for Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Gander RV 400 at Dover International Speedway after posting a new track record.
Elliott, last week’s winner at Talladega Superspeedway and the winner last fall at Dover, recorded a lap of 21.692 seconds, 165.960 mph.
It was his sixth career pole.
Qualifying Results | Dover Pole Winners
Elliott’s lap at the one-mile concrete oval came with a return to single car qualifying after NASCAR ended group qualifying earlier this week, a format that had been in place since the 2014 season. It broke the track record of 164.444 mph set in June 2014 by Brad Keselowski. The top five qualifiers Friday eclipsed the old track record.
The 23-year-old Elliott is the youngest driver to win a Dover Cup pole.
William Byron will start second to give Hendrick Motorsports the front row for the fourth times this season.
“Team Hendrick is 1-2, which is awesome,” Elliott said. “Thanks to Chevrolet power and everybody that contributes to our car, they’ve been working hard. Hopefully, we can back it up on Sunday.
“It’s going to be a really tough race so you better eat your Wheaties these next couple days and hydrate because I think Sunday is going to be tough, especially if the sun’s out like it is right now.”
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Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five.
Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer completed the first 10 qualifiers.
Almirola’s car failed pre-qualifying inspection twice. As a result, competition officials ejected car chief Chad Haney, sidelining him for the rest of the race weekend.
Other notables in Sunday’s race include 11-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson (12th), Martin Truex Jr. (13th), Kurt Busch (19th), Kyle Busch (22nd) and rookie Ryan Preece (29th) after a career-high finish of third last week at Talladega.
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams will have a pair of practice sessions on Saturday to dial their cars in for Sunday’s 11th race of the season.
