Dover NASCAR: Kevin Harvick earns seventh pole of 2014

The Stewart-Haas driver was quickest in the opening qualifying phase and carried that speed through to the final round, putting himself into P1 for the seventh time this season with a 22.095-second lap at 162.933mph.

"It's been amazing year for everybody on the team," he said.

"They put a lot of effort into qualifying and it has translated into a lot of good finishes.

"We've just got to keep doing what we're doing, and track position is huge here."

Kyle Busch came closest to unseating him, but his best effort came up 0.5mph short.

Denny Hamlin rebounded from a poor race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last weekend to claim a spot on the second row, where he will be joined by Brad Keselowski.

Four drivers will be eliminated from the Chase after Sunday's race, and fortunes for those who are still in contention were mixed.

Keselowski's Chicagoland win has already secured his progression to the next round, and other Chase contenders who survived the opening qualifying round included Jeff Gordon (P6), Jimmie Johnson (P8), and Kasey Kahne (P12).

Some of those who were cut in the opening round missed by fractions of a second: Matt Kenseth only fell short by a couple of places, and Joey Logano, whose ongoing role in the Chase was secured by his victory at New Hampshire last weekend, will line up on the row behind him.

"We just couldn't find the speed out of the car," said the Penske driver.

"We didn't unload very well, which put us behind the eight-ball for qualifying, and I thought we were alright when we were sixth in practice, but it didn't transfer to game time."

Carl Edwards left it until late in the session to make the run that put him 18th on the grid, but he believed that he'd have been even further back had he gone onto the track earlier.

"We thought we'd have the best opportunity to crack the top 12 if we waited," he sad. "I think the team made the right call - if we'd gone early we'd have been 25th or 26th."

Of the other drivers still eligible for the title, Ryan Newman, Aric Almirola and Kurt Busch will start from positions 20 through to 22, Dale Earnhardt Jr will line up 25th, Greg Biffle 27th, and AJ Allmendinger 28th.

QUALIFYING POSITIONS:

Qualifying format: First round sets 13-43, second round sets 1-12