On Sunday, NASCAR’s biggest stars will take to the track at Dover Motor Speedway for the Cup race at 2 p.m. ET on FS1. The excitement builds as Kyle Busch, who won the pole with a lap of 162.191 mph, leads the field into battle. This is Busch’s 34th career Cup pole and second at Dover, and he’ll be looking to defend his position in front of a packed crowd.
Following Busch in qualifying were Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Tyler Reddick, and Noah Gragson, all of whom rounded out the top five. Notable drivers like Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Michael McDowell, Alex Bowman, and AJ Allmendinger secured top 10 starting positions as well.
Despite a few hiccups during qualifying – including Christopher Bell spinning during his opening lap and scraping the rear of his car against the outside wall – the green flag is set to wave at 2:11 p.m., with FS1 providing coverage beginning with NASCAR RaceDay at 1 p.m.
While many drivers are eager to get back behind the wheel and compete for victory, there are also some notable absences from Sunday’s race lineup. Erik Jones was injured in an incident at Talladega and will miss the race after suffering a compression fracture in a lower vertebra. He was replaced by Corey Heim for this weekend’s race. Zane Smith and Kaz Grala were unable to participate in qualifying due to crashes in Group B practice; Grala required the backup car after hitting the wall nose-first in his No. 15 Ford.