Harvick grabs seventh pole of the season at Dover

Dover, DE (SportsNetwork.com) - Kevin Harvick continued his success in knockout-style qualifying in the Sprint Cup Series this season by winning the pole for Sunday's AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway -- the third race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Harvick, in his first season as driver of the No. 4 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing, turned a lap around this one-mile, concrete-surfaced racetrack at 162.933 mph during the second and final round in Friday's qualifying. He is one of the 16 drivers in the Chase field.

It was the seventh pole of the season for Harvick in Sprint Cup. He had six pole victories combined in his career in the series from 2001-13 when he drove for Richard Childress Racing.

"It's been an amazing year for everybody on our Budweiser (sponsor) Stewart- Haas racing team," Harvick said. "They just do a great job in preparing the race cars and put a lot of effort into qualifying, and it's translated into a lot of good finishes. We've just got to keep doing what we're doing.

"Track position is huge here, especially at the beginning of the race. I've never been in that stall, so I guess it's going to be okay on that end of pit road. But all in all, I'm just really proud of all my guys. They've done a great job all year."

Harvick claimed his first pole in his 28th start at Dover. His previous best starting position here was third in 2003. He has yet to win a Sprint Cup race at this track.

Dover is the third and final race in the opening round of the Chase, known as the "Challenger Round." Harvick is currently third in the point standings. A 34th-place finish or better for Harvick here will guarantee him one of the 12 spots in the Chase for the next round, referred to as the "Contender Round," which begins with the Oct. 5 race at Kansas.

"Points-wise, we feel like we're in good shape, and we just want to keep building on the momentum we have to try to further that to lead into Kansas," Harvick added.

Kyle Busch, currently fifth in Chase points, will start alongside Harvick on the front row after posting a lap at 162.404 mph.

Denny Hamlin, who is Busch's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, qualified third. Last week at New Hampshire, Hamlin finished 37th and fell to 13th in the standings. He is six points behind 12th-place Ryan Newman, who qualified 20th.

"Half of the battle here is getting a good starting position and getting a good pit stall for Sunday," Hamlin said. "This place used to be my nemesis in the past, but over the last two or three years, we've really run strong here. I'm confident coming here that we should have a good car and have a shot for the win. We just got to make sure that we don't have any problems. If we can do that, then I'm pretty confident we can race our way into the next round."

Qualifying fourth through 12th were: Brad Keselowski, who won the Chase-opener at Chicagoland, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, rookie Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Austin Dillon, also a rookie this season, Brian Vickers and Kasey Kahne.

Keselowski, Gordon, Johnson, and Kahne are in the Chase.

The remaining drivers currently in the playoffs and their starting positions include: Matt Kenseth (14th), Joey Logano (16th), Carl Edwards (18th), Aric Almirola (21st), Kurt Busch (22nd), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (25th), Greg Biffle (27th) and A.J. Allmendinger (28th). Logano scored the victory at New Hampshire.

Tony Stewart, who is not in the Chase this year, qualified 15th two days after a grand jury in Ontario County, New York cleared him of any criminal charges for his role in the death of Kevin Ward Jr. during an accident in the Aug. 9 sprint car race at Canandaigua Motorsports Park.

All 43 drivers who attempted qualifying made the starting field.