Rain would not let up at Dover Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon, forcing NASCAR to cancel Cup Series practice and qualifying at the tricky concrete oval. Along with the usual unknowns going into a race weekend, teams also have a new and untested Goodyear tire for this race.
As a result of qualifying being cancelled, the field will be set by the metric — an average made up of 15% of a fastest lap time from the previous week, 25% of the driver’s finishing position, 25% of the owner’s final race finishing position, and 35% of the owner’s points position.
After that somewhat confusing math is sorted out, Chase Elliott ends up on pole position for Dover. The Hendrick Motorsports driver will share the front row with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe. Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron will round out the top five.
Shane van Gisbergen, who won last week at Sonoma, will start sixth. He didn’t sound too thrilled about that in an interview during the rain delay, as he would much rather get some practice time and start deeper in the pack. While a superstar on road courses, SVG still has a steep learning curve at ovals.
Michael McDowell will start seventh, Joey Logano eighth, Ty Gibbs ninth, and Kyle Busch tenth.
Some notable names deeper in the field include defending winner Denny Hamlin in 13th, Ross Chastain 19th, Kyle Larson 25th, and Ryan Blaney 31st.
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