Five to Watch: Dover race weekend

Dover International Speedway is celebrating its 50th anniversary on Monday with the Gander RV 400 (noon ET on FS1, MRN, SIriusXM NASCAR Radio). With an uptick in speed, single-car qualifying, trying to keep streaks alive and end droughts among things to watch, here are five story lines to keep an eye on this weekend.

SPEEDY FAST: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams are using the 750 horsepower rules package this weekend with no aero ducts, meaning that these cars are going fast - really fast. Kyle Busch alluded to those speeds after the first Cup Series practice Friday. Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson topped the board. They both ran 168-mph laps. “It's fast; it's really fast,” Kyle Busch told media. Last year's pole speed was 158.103 mph by Larson; Chase Elliott, Sunday's pole award winner, posted a lap of 165.960 mph. When asked about the speed after his qualifying effort, Elliott said, "Super fast. The corner speeds are just so high. There's just a lot more throttle through the corner than what I feel like we've been carrying. But it was a lot of fun."

MOVIN' ON UP: Chase Elliott won last weekend's race at Talladega Superspeedway, his first win at the track and first of the 2019 season. It also marked Hendrick Motorsports' first win of the season. On Friday, Elliott won the Busch Pole Award at Dover International Speedway in advance of Sunday’s Gander RV 400, his first pole at the 1-mile track and sixth of his career. Elliott is also the most recent winner at Dover and the most recent winner last fall at Kansas, which comes up next on the schedule. Are we about to witness Elliott go on a surge?

WINNING WAYS: Stewart-Haas Racing has yet to win in 2019 – which is a bit shocking considering the team's very different start a year ago. By this time last year, SHR already had four wins (three for Kevin Harvick, one for Clint Bowyer). But Harvick is Sunday's defending race winner -- an encouraging sign. In that same race in 2018, Bowyer finished second and then-Joe Gibbs Racing driver Daniel Suarez was third while Aric Almirola finished in 11th. When will SHR get its first win? Bowyer has been close twice, finishing second at Texas and third at Richmond.

STAYIN' ALIVE: Kyle Busch is trying to keep a streak alive this weekend and all he has to do is finish in the top 10. Easy enough? Maybe. Last week at Talladega, Busch had to work his way back into the top 10 after a speeding penalty but managed to hold onto his streak for another week. That seems to be the Busch-like thing to do. He's rallied back multiple times for track position and even wins. Busch has 28 starts under his belt at the 1-mile track with three wins, 12 top fives and an average finish of 14.8. Not helping his cause: On Sunday, Busch will start in the 22nd position -- his worst starting slot since 2007.

SNAP THE DROUGHT: Kyle Larson and Jimmie Johnson have one thing in common -- they need to snap a winless drought. Larson's last Cup Series win came at Richmond in 2017 and it's been a rough go of things for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver since then. Bad luck has knocked Larson out of the running in three of the last four races, and he has only two top 10s this season. But at Dover, Larson has four top fives and an average finish of 8.5. He will start third Sunday. As for seven-time champion Johnson, his last win was in 2017 at this very track. Since then, the driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has struggled -- but remains positive. "I'm optimistic and certainly very happy to be at a track that I love so much," he said. "And, I feel like we can hopefully string together a couple of really strong weeks here." Will one of them be able to end the drought Sunday?