Qualifying rained out, Keselowski will start on pole at Dover

Due to persistent rain Friday morning in the Dover area, NASCAR officials canceled Sprint Cup Series qualifying and the starting lineup for Sunday’s race was set by the rulebook for the second time in three Chase races.

Once again, all 16 drivers competing for the championship – and hoping to stave off elimination following the race at Dover – will start up front with current series points leader Keselowski starting on the pole.

"Certainly still something to be proud of, to be this far into the season and be in the points lead," said Keselowski. Just one of the perks ... We'll take it."

Keselowski has had a consistent Chase, finishing fifth at Chicagoland and fourth at New Hampshire, with help from several late-race restarts. He and Logano are looking for the extra boost of speed that will push them into Victory Lane in the coming weeks.

“We’re resilient,” Logano said. “We just need to start a little bit faster. We almost got a top 10 (last week) out of something that we ran around 20th all day, so at least we got something out of it. We just need to go faster than that.”

Martin Truex Jr., who is also locked into the second round thanks to his win at Chicagoland, will start alongside Keselowski.

Kyle Busch will lines up third, Matt Kenseth fourth and Joey Logano fifth.

Kevin Harvick, who locked himself into the second round with a win last weekend at New Hampshire, will start sixth.

The rest of the Chase drivers: Denny Hamlin (seventh), Jimmie Johnson (eighth), Carl Edwards (ninth), Chase Elliott (10th), Kurt Busch (11th), Kyle Larson (12th), Austin Dillon (13th), Jamie McMurray (14th), Tony Stewart (15th) and Chris Buescher (16th).

The four Chase drivers lowest in the series standings with a win after Dover are eliminated from further title contention.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer
1	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota
3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota
4	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota
5	22	Joey Logano	Ford
6	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
7	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota
8	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
9	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet
10	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota