DOVER, Del. — Chase Elliott followed his first win of the season with a pole at Dover, topping the speed chart on a blistering day at the track with a record 165.960 mph.
Elliott won last week at Talladega and kept the good times rolling Friday when he led a 1-2 start for Hendrick Motorsports. William Byron starts second for Sunday’s Cup race.
Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and fellow Hendrick driver Alex Bowman round out the top five.
The new package this season had cars coming to the mile-concrete track with 750 horsepower and more downforce that led to the record speeds. Brad Keselowski held the prior rack record of 164.444 mph, and 23 cars topped that speed during Friday’s lone practice session.
Elliott claimed the official mark in single-lap qualifying. NASCAR for more than five years has used a group qualifying format but it was abandoned this week and it was back to single-car laps to set the field.