Chase Elliott on pole at Dover, Cup Series practice and qualifying canceled due to rain

The weather just would not clear up at Dover Motor Speedway. As a result, Chase Elliott is on the pole for Sunday’s race. Elliott has started on the pole at Dover twice and finished P5 in both of those races. Can the NASCAR champion win the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 tomorrow?

The last time Chase Elliott was on pole at Dover was in 2020. The last time he won at Dover was in 2022. Last season, Elliott started P29 and finished P5. This is a track that he can definitely win on, and he will have his focus on doing just that tomorrow.

Out of 14 starts at Dover, Elliott has only finished outside of the top-five on four occasions. That is a ridiculous stat. Now, he gets to start on pole and will get a great pit stall selection.

This is a very interesting weekend in NASCAR. Dover has not been the best as far as the racing goes. But it is not as bad as what we have seen at some other short tracks. Those high speeds and the high banks of the track make passing somewhat easier. But aero is going to be very important.

Teams do not know what this track has in store. On top of that, there won’t be as much rubber laid down now after this track has been washed off the ARCA and Xfinity Series practice and qualifying rubber.

Chase Elliott has finished in the top-five in four of his last five outings. Of course, he has yet to finish worse than P20 this year. Chase Briscoe joins Elliott on the front row. Shane van Gisbergen will start P6 due to the metric and his great wins the last two weeks. That could be an issue for the rookie Cup Series driver on this tricky oval track.

This starting lineup is a bit jumbled. So, we’ll see which teams make big strategy calls and who settles for what they’ve been given tomorrow afternoon.