Chase Elliott shared his thoughts on the race at Dover Motor Speedway prior to the start. The Hendrick Motorsports driver started the race from pole position after rain washed out both practice and qualifying that were scheduled to take place on Saturday (July 19).Instead of using qualifying results to populate the starting grid for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400, NASCAR used its metric system.After placing third in the race at Sonoma, Elliott (driver of the No. 9 for Hendrick Motorsports) received the best metric score and finished second in the owner standings, so he started the race on the front row alongside Chase Briscoe (Joe Gibbs Racing). Rounding out the top five starters were Christopher Bell (third), Tyler Reddick (fourth), and series points leader William Byron (fifth).Ahead of the race, Chase Elliott said to PRNLive:"This is one of those places that will bite you. I try to respect this place as much as possible, and I hope it respects me back."Chase Elliott has established an impressive racing career that includes both fast-tracking and advancement while still racing full-time professionally. As the son of 1988 Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, Chase has always had established racing family connections and began racing at a young age, winning regional championships within various late model series, and then made it to the national level.Elliott experienced a meteoric rise in 2014, winning the Nationwide Series (now Xfinity) and becoming the youngest and first rookie to win a championship in NASCAR's national series, confirming his readiness for the highest level of the sport. Elliott's milestone achievement came in 2020 when he won the NASCAR Cup Series championship in Phoenix, and has since joined his father on the short list of father-son championship-winning drivers in NASCAR history.Chase Elliott highlights his weak qualifying record as he grabs surprise pole position for Dover Cup raceChase Elliott, who has delivered strong results throughout the year and has an impressive record at Dover—two career wins and ten top-five finishes—found himself at the top of the grid. In media interviews, Elliott acknowledged his weak on-track qualifying record during his pre-race media availability, pointing out that Saturday qualifying hasn’t been his strength this season.“It's definitely a different pole than normal. Saturday has definitely not been a strong suit, so we had to blaze a little different trail to get a pole. At the end of the day, it's a testament of hard work throughout the year and a good stretch of races, right? It earns you the metric that puts you in a position if it were to rain," said Chase Elliott."It's a little different vibe, but we'll take it. We'll try to take advantage of that first pit stall tomorrow. It's always a big deal. It's not something we have a whole bunch, so we'd like to get in the habit of getting that more often. Hopefully, we'll have a good day," he added.Despite being awarded the pole through the metric rather than outright speed, Elliott emphasized the value of the first pit stall and the opportunity to leverage a front-row start. He also addressed his season-long battle with qualifying consistency, noting that while his Hendrick teammates have frequently started up front and captured poles, he has mainly found himself mid-pack when qualifying is contested.