The rains came Friday as predicted and rained out pole qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup AAA 400 Drive for Autism at Dover International Speedway. Knowing the chance of rain was high for Friday afternoon, teams banked on the lineup being set by practice speeds. Teams practiced in qualifying trim with Kevin Harvick putting down a lap of 165.145 mph to grab the fastest lap in practice.
As rain continued to fall at the scheduled 3:45 p.m. ET qualifying time neared NASCAR cancelled the session and set the field by the rulebook and the gamble for Harvick paid off as he was handed his first pole of the season, the 16th of his career and his second at Dover.
“The car was really fast when we unloaded for practice,” Harvick said. “Having that first pit stall definitely helps here and looking forward to just the challenge of this particular race track just running every lap is hard. To do it the same twice and that is a lot of fun. The guys have done a great job prepping the cars and hit on some things that we like and it has worked well over the past few years.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start second alongside Harvick after his second fastest lap of the earlier practice session of 164.707 mph. The front row start for Earnhardt is his first of the season.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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