June 2013 Pole Sitter: #11-Denny Hamlin, 157.978mph, finished 34th

September 2012 Pole Sitter: #11-Denny Hamlin, 159.299mph, finished 10th

Track Qualifying Record: Jeremy Mayfield, 161.522mph, 6/4/2004

Worst Starting Spot to Win: Kyle Petty, started 37th, 6/1995

Oldest Pole Winner: Mark Martin, 53 years, 4 months, and 24 days, 6/2/2012

Youngest Pole Winner: Jeff Gordon, 23 years, 10 months, 0 days, 6/04/1995

Fastest First Practice Speed: #20-Kenseth, 163.473mph, scheduled to qualify 38th out of 43 drivers

#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins Dover pole: #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole for the AAA 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway with TRACK RECORD speed of 161.849mph for his 2nd pole of 2013 and 13th of his career. Earnhardt Jr. has never won a Cup race from the pole.
#20-Kenseth is on the outside pole, followed by #39-Newman, #43-Almirola, #99-Edwards, #2-Keselowsi, #1-McMurray, #48-Johnson, #78-Busch and #56-Truex Jr.
Since only 43 cars were entered, no one missed the race.(9-27-2013)

Qualifying Fast Facts - Dover:
#88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 44th Annual AAA 400 with a lap of 22.243 seconds, 161.849 mph.
This is his 13th pole in 498 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his second pole and seventh top-10 start in 2013.
This is his first pole in 28 races at Dover International Speedway.
#20-Matt Kenseth (second) posted his 20th top-10 start of 2013 and his 10th in 30 races at Dover International Speedway.
#39-Ryan Newman (third) posted his 16th top-10 start at Dover International Speedway. It is his 12th in 29 races this season.
#17-Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (15th) was the fastest qualifying rookie. (NASCAR Statistics)(9-27-2013)

Coverage of Qualifying for the AAA 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway is scheduled for Friday, September 27, 2013 at 3:10pm/et.
TV: ESPN2 at 3:10pm/et
Radio: Motor Racing Network at motorracingnetwork.com.
Scheduled Qualifying TV Re-Air: none

Pole Progression: (who had the pole first, who got it next and who ended up with it)
#98-McDowell, 1st out to qualify, 156.883mph, starts 34th
#10-Patrick, 2nd out, 157.563mph, starts 31st
#5-Kahne, 5th out, 160.371, starts 20th
#78-Busch, 8th out, 161.326, starts 9th
#48-Johnson, 9th out, 161.341, starts 8th
#2-Keselowski, 21st out, 161.597, starts 6th, TRACK RECORD
#43-Almirola, 24th out, 161.609, starts 4th, TRACK RECORD
#88-Earnhardt Jr., 26th out, 161.849, starts 1st, TRACK RECORD

Friday practice for the AAA 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway is over, after 90 scheduled minutes, the top five, slowest and notes:
#20-Kenseth 163.473
#56-Truex Jr. 162.859
#22-Logano 162.624
#78-Busch 162.521
#18-Busch 162.506
13 drivers were faster then the current track record of 161.522mph
slowest: #32-Hill 153.178 & #33-Raines 154.090
See fastest speeds, number of laps run on the Dover Friday Practice Speeds page (pdf).(9-27-2013)

Race info at: Race Info Page

Event Entry List

Qualifying Rules

Past Champions Provisional

All Time Sprint Cup Pole Winners

NOTE: not doing semi-live qualifying anymore. With NASCAR.com and FoxSports having real time qualifying and hits for my qualifying pages way down due to the availability of the real-time qualifying found elsewhere, not worth the time.
Will still post my unique qualifying results here, to help explain how drivers make the race.
For real time qualifying, check out:
NASCAR.com
FoxSports

Qualifying order is by a random draw. Someone from the team draws a bingo like ball just before the first practice of the event.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying rules for 2013: (except Daytona 500)
1) Starting positions 1 through 36 determined by the fastest qualifying speeds in descending order with the fast qualifier being first.
2) Starting positions 37 through 42 will be provisional starting positions that were not among the fastest 36 from qualifying. Provisional starting positions will be assigned to the highest ranked NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owners who are present at the Event and have entered the Event by the entry deadline and will be assigned in descending order until the six (6) provisional spots are filled.
3) If positions 37 - 42 are not filled by eligible car owners, the remaining positions will be assigned to car owners based on qualifying results.
NOTE: Once provisional starting positions have been assigned, the cars will be placed in the starting lineup by their qualifying speed in descending order with the fastest qualifying speed starting thirty-seventh.
4) If after starting positions 1 through 42 are assigned and there remains a car owner whose driver is the current or a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion who participated as a driver in the previous NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season and who was entered in the Event for that owner in that car prior to the entry deadline, a 43rd provisional starting position, the "Champion's Provisional", will be assigned to that car owner. The most recent NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion driver not previously qualifying for positions 1 through 42 will be assigned the position. 5) If the 43rd provisional starting position is not filled by an eligible NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, it will be assigned to the next highest ranked car owner based on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner points.
6) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned according to current calendar year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner point standings.
7) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned to the car owners who have made the greatest number of qualifying attempts during the current season.
8) If any starting positions remain unfilled, they will be assigned to cars in order (1,2,3&etc.) in which their numbers were selected in the qualifying draw.
NOTE: Until the completion of three races of the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, the final previous season NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship car owner point standings will be used for determining the starting positions for the highest ranked car owners as described above.

Practice held but Qualifying canceled: If the first practice is run, but qualifying is unable to take place and is canceled, the procedure for how teams are chosen to fill the field:
1) Top 36 in owners points.
2) Past Series Champions not in the top 36 of owners points.
3) Race attempts, ties broken by owners points rank.
The starting order is then set by 1st practice speed.
If two or more teams have no attempts, the team highest in qualifying draw gets in the race.
Provisionals are not used and not charged to past series champions.

Practice AND qualifying are cancelled [rain, etc], the following procedure is used:
1) For the first three races of the current season the top 36 teams in the previous season owner points would make the race [team doesn't have to had run all the races in that season]. After the first three races of the current season, the top 36 teams in the current season owners points, would make the race.
2) Then any winning driver or team owner from 2012 or 2013, as well as any past champions, make the field.
3) Then, for the first three races of the current season, any of the top 36 teams in owner points for this year would make the field.
4) Then it goes to qualifying attempts this year, with ties broken by owner points.

More info on Past Champions Provisional and rules and limits on my 2013 Past Champions Provisional Page