DOVER, Del. - An impressive week continued for Chase Elliott Friday afternoon at Dover International Speedway.
Coming off a win at Talladega Superspeedway last Sunday, Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Brakes team captured the pole position in qualifying at Dover. In the process, he became the youngest driver in history to win a NASCAR Cup Series pole at Dover, breaking the previous record held by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon in 1995.
“Super fast,” Elliott said of his car. “It was a lot of fun. Our NAPA Brakes Chevy was good right there. That's always nice.”
Joining him on the front row will be William Byron, who captured the outside pole. It’s the fourth front-row sweep for Hendrick Motorsports in qualifying this season and Byron’s fourth front-row start of the year.
"Congratulations to Chase," Byron said. "We were close!"
Alex Bowman was the third Hendrick Motorsports teammate to qualify in the top five, earning a fifth-place starting position. It’s his second top-five starting spot of the 2019 campaign.
Jimmie Johnson qualified just outside of the top 10 in 12th.
Elliott’s pole-winning time of 21.692 seconds – 165.959 mph – set a new track record. Speed was certainly on display Friday, as each driver in the top five broke the previous track record.
The driver of the No. 9 Chevy has now won two poles this season, which ties him with Austin Dillon and Kevin Harvick for the most this year. In his Cup Series career, Elliott has amassed six poles, and Dover is the fourth different track on which he’s earned the top starting spot.
"Today was one of those fun ones,” Elliott said. “Team Hendrick one-two, which is awesome."
Hendrick Motorsports owns four poles in 2019, and each one has been part of a front-row sweep of qualifying. Friday’s result was the organization’s 219th all-time pole position, with 19 drivers accounting for those poles. Five drivers account for the organization’s 10 poles at Dover.
Last fall at Dover, Elliott conquered the “Monster Mile” to capture his second career Cup Series win and clinch a spot in the Round of 8 of the playoffs. In his six starts at the track, he has garnered five top-five finishes, averaging a finishing position of 4.3 at the one-mile oval.
He'll look to add to those stats this Sunday.
“Big thanks to all my guys, 9 team's been working really hard,” the driver said. “We've just got to keep after it and hopefully stay where we start on Sunday."
Sunday’s race at Dover is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.