Bowyer follows win with slow qual run at Dover (cont'd)

Kyle Busch is usually fast on Sunday, but not so much on Friday. That held true, as he put the No. 5 Chevy in 22nd. Busch's lap of 23.766 seconds, 151.477 mph was decent, and his starting spot is two under his average of 20.2. His finishing average of 13.2 is the key. His first three Dover starts went second-second-fifth, but his last two were 40th and 17th.

Jeff Gordon has led 2,198 laps at Dover in 29 starts, roughly 10 times what Truex led there in June. He'll have to hope he can add a few to that total after qualifying his No. 24 Chevy 27th at 23.813, 151.178 mph.

Gordon is preternaturally good at Dover, winning four times, logging 13 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes, but he hasn't won there since the spring of 2001. In the 12 races since he last tasted victory, he's had four top-five and seven top-10 results -- and four finishes of 36th or worse. His average finish of 12.3 is good for seventh among the Chasers.

Tony Stewart, who had a memorable run-in with Kurt Busch the last time the series visited Dover, was 28th after a lap at 23.814 seconds, 151.172 mph. Stewart was third at NHIS, behind Bowyer and Gordon, so he's on a bit of a streak, and he won this race from 27th back in 2000.

Like Gordon, Stewart has been good at Dover, leading 1,066 laps in 17 starts, and his average finish of 10.7 is fourth-best in the Chase. He's 10 points out of the lead, and he'll be looking to cut that down some more on Sunday.

Jeff Burton won at Dover last year to take the lead in the Chase standings, outdueling Mark Martin over the final stage to earn the victory. He started 19th in that race; on Sunday, he'll start 36th.

Burton's lap of 23.933 seconds, 150.420 mph puts him back in the field, but that's not a new thing -- his average start is 24.5. His average finish is 17.2, and he'll need better to make up the 91 points he trails the leaders by after NHIS.

Here's an interesting stat: drivers in the Chase have won the last four races at Dover (Truex, Burton, Kenseth and Johnson). In those races, the average margin of victory is 4.04 seconds. The last two, won by Truex and Burton, had margins of victory of 7.355 and 7.955 seconds, respectively, while the previous two, won by Kenseth and Johnson, had margins of .787 and .080 seconds, respectively.

After Bowyer's demolition of the field at NHIS, Sunday's race is going to be either a blowout or a nail-biter.