Rain Stops Cup Qualifying, Puts Elliott Out Front At Dover

Chase Elliott (Rusty Jones/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

DOVER, Del. – Gloomy skies set the tone for and rain ultimately canceled NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway, with Chase Elliott being the main beneficiary.

With the field set by the NASCAR Rule Book, Elliott was awarded the first starting spot for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400, with a field-leading metric score of 2.7.

NASCAR’s updated performance metric for 2025 factors in the previous race finish by car owner (70 percent) and the car’s current owner points position (30 percent) to determine the final scores.

The scores are aligned from worst to best to determine the practice groups and qualifying order each week, with the metric used in descending order to set the grid in the event of a time-trial washout.

Elliott says that Sunday “will be a challenge” due to the lack of practice and overall laps they’ve turned at the one-mile concrete oval, especially with a new tire compound being rolled out this weekend.

Joining Elliott on the front row is four-time season pole winner Chase Briscoe, while starting behind them in row two are two more Toyotas of Christopher Bell and Tyler Reddick.

Row three has Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron and last week’s Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway winner Shane Van Gisbergen, who has won three of the last five Cup Series races with his road racing prowess.

The fourth row features Michael McDowell, a driver who will need some good runs if he wants to make a push for the playoffs, and three-time and defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano. Rounding out the top 10 are two drivers who are very close to the playoff cut line in Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch.

On the flip side, 2021 Cup Series champion and perennial contender Kyle Larson starts all the way back in 25th during a weekend where he will be trying to end his recent slump.

Despite the charter and lawsuit drama with 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, both of whom lost their chartered status this week and are racing as ‘Open’ entries for at least the next two races, all 37 entered cars will take the green flag for the 21st race of the year.

Broadcast coverage of the Autotrader Echopark Automotive 400 takes place Sunday at 2 p.m. ET, live on TNT, the Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.