Martin Truex Jr.’s third win of 2021 leads to a Dover pole

Martin Truex Jr. will have the best starting spot at Dover thanks to his win at Darlington.

Truex won his third race of the season at Darlington and will start first on Sunday at Dover (2 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1). Truex is the only driver in the Cup Series who has won more than one race in 2021 and he’s the betting favorite for Sunday’s race at +350.

Truex got the pole thanks to NASCAR’s qualifying formula since there’s no practice or qualifying ahead of the race. The formula consists of a driver’s finishing position from the previous race (25%), the car owner’s finishing position from the previous event (25%), where the team is in owner points (35%) and the driver’s fastest lap from the previous race (15%). The driver with the lowest combined number starts first.

Points leader Denny Hamlin starts second while William Byron starts third. Kyle Larson starts fourth and Kevin Harvick will start fifth. 

Sunday’s race is the only race at Dover in 2021 as the track’s second date was moved to Nashville Superspeedway. It’s the first time since 1970 that the track has not hosted two races in a Cup Series season. 

[Dover betting preview]

Starting lineup

1. Martin Truex Jr.

2. Denny Hamlin

3. William Byron

4. Kyle Larson

5. Kevin Harvick

6. Kyle Busch

7. Ryan Blaney

8. Chase Elliott

9. Joey Logano

10. Chris Buescher

11. Christopher Bell

12. Tyler Reddick

13. Ryan Newman

14. Austin Dillon

15. Brad Keselowski

16. Alex Bowman

17. Chase Briscoe

18. Matt DiBenedetto

19. Ross Chastain

20. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

21. Michael McDowell

22. Bubba Wallace

23. Erik Jones

24. Daniel Suarez

25. Ryan Preece

26. Corey LaJoie

27. Anthony Alfredo

28. Kurt Busch

29. Justin Haley

30. Cole Custer

31. BJ McLeod

32. Aric Almirola

33. James Davison

34. Cody Ware

35. Quin Houff

36. Garrett Smithley

37. Josh Bilicki

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