Martin Truex Jr. and Daniel Hemric will have good starting spots for the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series‘ Drydene-filled weekend at Dover International Speedway. Hemric will start on the pole for Saturday’s Drydene 200 while Truex, coming off his third win of the year, does so for Sunday’s Drydene 400.
Cup: JGR front row with Truex and Hamlin
Truex is on a roll in 2021. The only Cup driver to have multiple wins so far, he notched his third in a dominant performance on Sunday at Darlington. Sunday’s race will be his second time starting on the pole in 2021 after first doing so at Richmond, where he finished fifth. He has three career Cup wins at Dover, with the last coming in 2019, while he has finished second in his last three starts there.
Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Denny Hamlin starts alongside Truex in the points leader’s seventh front-row position of the year. While he has yet to win in 2021, he won the first of two races at Dover in 2020.
The lone driver change from Darlington is Rick Ware Racing‘s multi-man #53 as Garrett Smithley takes over from J.J. Yeley. It will be his seventh start of the year.
| Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
| 1 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 2 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 3 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 4 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 6 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 7 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford |
| 8 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 9 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
| 10 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 11 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 12 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 13 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 14 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 15 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford |
| 16 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 17 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 18 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 19 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 20 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 21 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 22 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota |
| 23 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 24 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet |
| 25 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 26 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 27 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 28 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 29 | 77 | Justin Haley* | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 30 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 31 | 78 | B.J. McLeod* | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford |
| 32 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 33 | 15 | James Davison | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 34 | 51 | Cody Ware* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 35 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet |
| 36 | 53 | Garrett Smithley* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
| 37 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford |
* – Ineligible for Cup points
Xfinity: Hemric on pole for second time
Hemric is still seeking his first career national series victory. For the third time since his return to the Xfinity Series, he will start on the front row in Saturday’s race after finishing fourth at Darlington. It is his second pole of the year after first doing so at Phoenix, where he won a stage but finished twenty-third after hitting the wall in overtime. In five total Xfinity starts at Dover, he has four top tens and a best finish of third in the 2018 spring event. He started on the pole for the 2018 fall race and finished seventh.
Darlington victor Justin Allgaier starts second; it is his third time starting in the top two in 2021. Allgaier is a two-time Xfinity winner at Dover in 2018 spring and 2020 Race #1.
Multiple driver swaps have taken place for the race. JD Motorsports team-mates Ryan Vargas and Landon Cassill switch cars with the former now in the #4 and the latter in the #6, likely in an effort to boost the #6’s owner points standing as it is currently thirty-seventh. Yeley will drive Our Motorsports‘s #23 for the first time after Tanner Berryhill ran it at Darlington. B.J. McLeod will drive his team’s #99 as Ryan Ellis steps aside. Camping World Truck Series points leader John Hunter Nemechek replaces Brandon Gdovic in his first start for Sam Hunt Racing. Cody Ware is in the RWR/SS-Green Light Racing #17 entry driven by Yeley.
In the #90 for DGM Racing (which McLeod ran at Darlington) will be series newcomer Kyle Sieg. The younger brother of Xfinity regular Ryan Sieg, Kyle is currently competing in the ARCA Menards Series where he sits fourth in points with a best finish of fourth at Phoenix.
Jordan Anderson, Andy Lally, and Ronnie Bassett Jr. miss the race as usual. However, they will be granted an opportunity to compete next week at Circuit of the Americas as NASCAR will finally allow qualifying.
| Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
| 1 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 2 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 4 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 5 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 6 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
| 7 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet |
| 8 | 11 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
| 9 | 02 | Brett Moffitt | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 10 | 1 | Michael Annett | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 11 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford |
| 12 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 13 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
| 14 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 15 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford |
| 16 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Martins Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 17 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
| 18 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 19 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
| 20 | 61 | David Starr | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
| 21 | 66 | Timmy Hill* | MBM Motorsports | Ford |
| 22 | 4 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 23 | 99 | B.J. McLeod | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Toyota |
| 24 | 15 | Colby Howard | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 25 | 74 | Bayley Currey* | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
| 26 | 17 | Cody Ware | SS-Green Light Raicng | Chevrolet |
| 27 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 28 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 29 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
| 30 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
| 31 | 78 | Jesse Little | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 32 | 23 | J.J. Yeley | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 33 | 26 | John Hunter Nemechek* | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota |
| 34 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet |
| 35 | 90 | Kyle Sieg | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
| 36 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr. | SS-Green Light Raicng | Chevrolet |
| 37 | 6 | Landon Cassill | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 38 | 13 | Matt Jaskol | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
| 39 | 5 | Matt Mills | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 40 | 52 | Gray Gaulding | Jimmy Means Racing | Chevrolet |
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points
