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Not that he isn’t worthy of being the pole winner. Harvick won last fall’s Dover race, the third and last of the Chase for the Sprint Cup’s first segment. And he had the fastest qualifying speed on Friday at 165.145 mph on the Monster Mile.
Kevin Harvick and his car (Getty Images)
Sunday’s race is scheduled to start at 1:15 p.m. ET. Forecasters said race day should be sunny but cool. At least it will be dry.
The one-mile concrete track was slick from Friday’s start, when Xfinity Series cars slipped and slid in their practice session.
Then, Danica Patrick’s car blew oil over the track after a mechanical failure. Her car wrecked and caught fire. Behind her, boss Tony Stewart hit the oil and lost control before smacking a wall. And Jamie McMurray followed Stewart into the unprotected barrier.
All three drivers went to backup cars.
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With rain approaching, NASCAR had to red-flag practice to clean up Patrick’s mess. That meant less track time.
It was sprinkling by midday at Dover with rain expected without hours.
Harvick will start alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had the second-fastest practice time. The rest of the top five: Kyle Busch and teammate Carl Edwards, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. behind them.
Harvick was the monster in last fall’s race, 355 of 400 laps. Last spring, he finished second behind Jimmie Johnson after leading 91 laps.
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers and ally Martin Truex Jr. held five of the top 10 practice speeds.
- — Non-chartered or open team
