Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAll three of NASCAR's national touring series are in action the next two days, with two of the three races at Dover International Speedway.First up is the Nationwide Series; they're in Dover Saturday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, ESPN2) for the Dover 200. The Camping World Truck Series race is the second half of the Saturday doubleheader. They're on the other side of the country in Las Vegas for the Smith's Food and Drug Stores 350 (9 p.m. ET, Speed). The main event is Sunday's Sprint Cup race, the AAA 400 (1 p.m. ET, ESPN), back at Dover. It's the second race in the ten-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.
After a dismal 25th place showing in last weekend's race at Loudon, Jimmie Johnson took a positive step toward his fifth consecutive championship by capturing the pole for Sunday's race. Johnson turned a lap in 23.116 seconds (156.736 mph) to edge A. J. Allmendinger, who ran a qualifying lap of 23.130 seconds. Mark Martin initially qualified third, but his lap was disallowed after inspection when the gas pressure in his right rear shock was found to be too high. Martin will start 42nd. Martin Truex Jr. starts third, followed by Denny Hamlin and Juan Montoya.
It was the 25th pole of Johnson's career, the third at Dover and the second of the season. Johnson leads all active drivers with five wins at the track.
Other Chasers: Greg Biffle starts sixth, Kurt Busch eighth, Carl Edwards tenth, Kyle Busch 11th, Matt Kenseth 14th, Jeff Gordon 15th, Clint Bowyer 24th, Tony Stewart 25th, Jeff Burton 27th and Kevin Harvick 33rd.
Jeff Green, Josh Wise and Ted Musgrave failed to qualify for the race. (Race lineup)
Dover International Speedway is also known as the Monster Mile, and for good reason. It's a mile-long concrete oval with high banking (24 degrees in the turns and nine degrees on the straightaways). That translates into a lot of speed, but the track is very narrow, leaving drivers nowhere to go if (when) something happens in front of them. It should be exciting.
After Clint Bowyer's 150-point penalty dropped him from second to twelfth in the points standings, Denny Hamlin now has a 45-point lead over the new second place guy, Kevin Harvick. Hamlin finished fourth back in the May race, but doesn't usually do too well at Dover. In fact, other than Daytona, Dover is Hamlin's worst track in terms of average finish. His 22.8 is the worst among all Chasers. But he was feeling cocky enough to get into a war of words with Richard Childress over Bowyer's rules violation.
Danica Patrick returns to NASCAR for Saturday's Nationwide race. She got some valuable seat time at Dover in today's K&N Pro Series East race where she finished sixth.
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