Dale Earnhardt Jr. held off NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Matt Kenseth to claim pole for Sunday's Chase race at Dover.
Hendrick driver Earnhardt's 22.243-second, 161.849mph lap was the latest in the string of new track records set by the Gen-6 cars this year. Kenseth, who has won the first two Chase events, was 0.006sec shy of beat Earnhardt in his Joe Gibbs Toyota.
Even by NASCAR short-track standards, the field was incredibly close, with the top 10 cars all within 0.089sec. Ryan Newman was third for Stewart-Haas, joined on row two by Carl Edwards in the best of the Fords for Roush Fenway.
Aric Almirola and Brad Keselowski both had spells on provisional pole but ended up sharing row three, followed by Jamie McMurray, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr.
The race takes place on Sunday afternoon.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 22.243s
2. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 22.249s +0.006s
3. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 22.258s +0.015s
4. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 22.276s +0.033s
5. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 22.276s +0.033s
6. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 22.278s +0.035s
7. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 22.292s +0.049s
8. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 22.313s +0.070s
9. Kurt Busch Furniture Row Chevrolet 22.315s +0.072s
10. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 22.332s +0.089s
11. Joey Logano Penske Ford 22.357s +0.114s
12. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 22.388s +0.145s
13. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 22.397s +0.154s
14. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 22.399s +0.156s
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 22.400s +0.157s
16. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 22.407s +0.164s
17. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Toyota 22.409s +0.166s
18. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 22.422s +0.179s
19. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 22.424s +0.181s
20. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 22.448s +0.205s
21. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 22.465s +0.222s
22. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota 22.486s +0.243s
23. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 22.521s +0.278s
24. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 22.550s +0.307s
25. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 22.673s +0.430s
26. Casey Mears Germain Ford 22.697s +0.454s
27. David Ragan Front Row Ford 22.720s +0.477s
28. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 22.747s +0.504s
29. Mark Martin Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 22.786s +0.543s
30. Travis Kvapil BK Toyota 22.795s +0.552s
31. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 22.848s +0.605s
32. JJ Yeley Baldwin Chevrolet 22.850s +0.607s
33. Cole Whitt Swan Toyota 22.881s +0.638s
34. Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 22.947s +0.704s
35. Reed Sorenson Leavine Ford 22.975s +0.732s
36. Ryan Truex Phoenix Chevrolet 22.982s +0.739s
37. Landon Cassill Circle Sport Chevrolet 23.004s +0.761s
38. Josh Wise Front Row Ford 23.047s +0.804s
39. David Reutimann BK Toyota 23.137s +0.894s
40. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 23.151s +0.908s
41. Joe Nemecheck NEMCO Toyota 23.251s +1.008s
42. Timmy Hill FAS Lane Ford 23.297s +1.054s
43. Tony Raines Hillman Chevrolet 23.445s +1.202s