Catch up before the FedEx 400, 1 p.m. ET (FOX Sports 1)
What: FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks.
Where: Dover International Speedway, 1-mile oval in Dover, Del.
When: Sunday, May 31; 1 pm ET
TV/Radio: FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400 miles
Pit road speed: 35 mph
Caution car speed: 45 mph
Fuel window: 81 laps
On the front row | Full starting lineup
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin earned his first pole position of the season and third career at Dover. The Martinsville (VA.) winner will start alongside the hometown favorite, Martin Truex Jr. It is the best start of the season for the New Jersey native Truex, who is the highest ranked driver without a win in 2015. He has good history at The Monster Mile, scoring his first career Cup victory here in 2007.
Fastest in practice: Pole-winner Hamlin's No. 11 FedEx Toyota topped both of Saturday's practice sessions, turning in a best speed of 156.087 mph in final practice. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards was second fastest in each Saturday practice and JGR driver Matt Kenseth top-10 in both. Defending race winner Jimmie Johnson was fastest in Friday's practice and fifth quickest in both Saturday sessions.
Last year's winner: Johnson won last year's race in relatively dominant fashion, leading a race best seven times for 272 laps. It was his second win in as many weeks and made him the all-time Dover race winner with nine victories.
On the line: With nine winners in the first 12 races, the trend is for yet another to punch his ticket to the Chase. Truex has to be considered the favorite for this. He and Kevin Harvick lead the series with 11 top-10 efforts. Truex's No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevy has led the most laps in the last two points-races -- at Kansas and at Charlotte. He was runner-up at Las Vegas in March and has two fifth-place showings in the last three races and qualified second.
History lesson: Even with six championship trophies and 73 wins, Johnson approaches another historical milestone this week that he is especially proud of. Should he collect his 10th Dover win on Sunday, he would be only the fifth driver in NASCAR history to record double digit wins at a track. The last to do it was Dale Earnhardt (10) at Talladega. Johnson would join the esteemed company of Richard Petty who has double-digit wins at Daytona, Martinsville, North Wilkesboro, Richmond, and Rockingham, and Darrell Waltrip (Bristol, Martinsville, and North Wilkesboro) and David Pearson (Darlington).
A Good Start: Outside polesitter Truex can take solace in an interesting Dover statistic. The second starting position has produced more winners in this race than any other starting position. Front row drivers have won 31 percent of all the races. Nearly 80 percent of Dover race winners started from the top 10 positions on the grid.
Return to Glory: Three-time Cup champ Tony Stewart's last victory came in this race two years ago. Smoke has a good record at The Monster Mile with three wins and 17 top-10s in 31 starts. And, although his No. 14 Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevy will be starting from the 26th position, Stewart holds a distinguished mark. Only five times in 90 Dover Cup races has the winner started from outside the top-20. Stewart was the last to do it – winning from 22nd place on the grid. Kyle Petty won the 1995 spring Dover race starting 37th.
They said it: "It's hard to say one aspect that I enjoy the most [about the Dover track], but just the set of corners from straightaway to straightaway, you kind of work up your bravery. You make it through the corner, you get on the next straightaway and you smile, 'like wow, that was pretty cool, I’m going to do it again here, here we go.' And you fly through [turns] two and three and you just end up wit that mindset around the racetrack. It's a ton of fun." – Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe's Pro Services Chevrolet)