Chase Elliott highlights his weak qualifying record as he grabs surprise pole position for Dover Cup race

Chase Elliott, the popular NASCAR driver, commented on his pole position for the race at Dover Motor Speedway. He was awarded the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series event at Dover Motor Speedway because of rain that cancelled both practice and qualifying.

Due to miserably wet weather, NASCAR utilized its performance metric formula that set the field through the metric of previous race results and current season standings. The starting lineup was established based on a formula using race results, owner points, and other season-long performance.

Chase Elliott's impressive performances over the course of the season, and at the Dover track where he has two career wins and 10 top-fives, helped him secure the top spot, with Chase Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, and William Byron completing the top five.

Chase Elliott referred to his string of inconsistent qualifying performances in Saturday's media availability.

“It's definitely a different pole than normal. Saturday has definitely not been a strong suit, so we had to blaze a little different trail to get a pole. At the end of the day, it's a testament of hard work throughout the year and a good stretch of races, right? It earns you the metric that puts you in a position if it were to rain," said Chase Elliott. "It's a little different vibe, but we'll take it. We'll try to take advantage of that first pit stall tomorrow. It's always a big deal. It's not something we have a whole bunch, so we'd like to get in the habit of getting that more often. Hopefully, we'll have a good day," he added.

Elliott has not secured a pole position from on-track qualifying sessions thus far in the season. The best Elliott could do qualifying on track this year was start second at Martinsville, but he has been buried mid-pack on a normal basis, making it difficult on race day. Teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson have each claimed multiple poles and start frequently toward the front of the field, Elliott has not reached that, and even Alex Bowman has him beat in total poles for this season.

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Chase Elliott reflects on his late race push that fell short in Sonoma

Chase Elliott finished third at the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, continuing a season marked by remarkable consistency. Starting from 13th on the grid, Elliott steadily climbed through the field during the race, ultimately trailing only winner Shane van Gisbergen and runner-up Chase Briscoe at the checkered flag. This result contributed to his streak of 20 consecutive top-20 finishes and highlighted his ability to make gains on road courses even if he doesn’t start near the front.

"The call by Alan Gustafson was great. It was nice to be on offense and give ourselves a shot. I wish I could have made it happen there. I was trying, but I just couldn’t get going like we needed to there at the end. We had a really fast No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet all day. I thought we were really solid. We probably needed a little bit more to get Shane van Gisbergen and Chase Briscoe,” Chase Elliott said via NBC Sports.

Elliott’s third-place result helped maintain his strong position in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, where he sits just behind teammate William Byron.

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Edited by Rupesh