Kyle Busch, Harvick start 1-2 in NASCAR playoffs at Dover

Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick have been the drivers to beat all season.

They’ll be the ones to catch again at Dover.

Busch and Harvick, who each have seven wins, will start 1-2 on Sunday at Dover International Speedway in Delaware to kick off the round-of-12 playoff race on the mile concrete track.

Rain washed out NASCAR Cup qualifying Friday, setting the lineup on points and giving the top dozen spots to the 12 playoff drivers.

Sports betting is legal in Delaware, and fans can now place bets on the race winner and other prop bets at Dover International Speedway. Busch and Harvick both have 3-1 odds to win Sunday’s race.

Busch said the pole was about six to eight spots higher than he thought he might have qualified in the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

“It’s certainly better for us not to go out there and have to bust out a really fast lap,” he said.

Dover starts the next three-race playoff round that includes Talladega and Kansas, with eight drivers advancing.

Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Clint Bowyer round out the top five. Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman start sixth to 12th.

Busch came to Dover celebrating a bigger milestone than a pole.

Busch and his wife Samantha, who have been public about their struggles with infertility, announced this week they are ready to start in vitro fertilization (IVF) to try and have a second child. The Busches used IVF to conceive their son, Brexton. They hope for a daughter this time.

“We’ll go through embryo implementation in early November,” Busch said. “Hopefully that gets going and everything goes smooth. If everything goes smoothly, there is a lot of good to talk about.”

Here’s what else is going on at Dover.

Jimmie Johnson can extend his own track record with a 12th win at Dover.

But he’ll remain stuck on seven championships.

Johnson, tied with Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty for most career Cup titles, blew a chance to snap a 58-race losing streak last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Johnson tried to dive inside and pass Martin Truex Jr. with two turns remaining on the roval course and he ended up spinning. Johnson collected Truex, who spun off course, and Johnson’s car came to a stop. Ryan Blaney scooted past for the surprise victory.

Johnson would have qualified for the next round of playoffs had he just settled for second place. Instead, Johnson wound up eighth and out of the playoffs.

Lewis Hamilton dominated practice for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.

After leading the morning practice, Hamilton clocked a time of 1 minute, 28.217 seconds in Friday’s second practice session, finishing 0.461 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel was third fastest.

Hamilton has won five of the last six Formula One races and three of the last four at the Japanese Grand Prix.