Good morning from Dover

Denny Hamlin

Good everyone morning. Brian Carroccio coming to you from yes, Dover International Speedway. It's a few minutes after 8 a.m. here in a relatively quiet media center. While temperatures are currently only in the low 70s, let me tell it is wicked humid outside.

Luckily, as the temperatures rise during the day (highs in the mid-80s), the humidity is suppose to burn off.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Cares Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry won the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday's 46th Annual FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks Race. It was Hamlin's 21st career pole and 3rd of 2015. Martin Truex Jr. will start second, Kyle Larson third.

Below is the schedule of today's events:

10-10:50 a.m. NASCAR Sprint Cup practice
11:15 a.m. NASCAR XFINITY Series Qualifying
1:00-1:50 p.m. NASCAR Spring Cup Series Practice
2:30 p.m. "Buckle up 200" presented by Click It or Ticket NASCAR XFINITY Series Race

A few observations about Dover:

1. Dover like Indianapolis Motor Speedway has Yellow Shirts, although I imagine you can guess which Yellow Shirts are more friendly. This morning the ones here at Dover were very helpful in assisting a certain wandering motor sports columnist (who shall remain nameless) find his way to the media center earlier this morning.

2. The first thing you notice when walking into the Monster Mile: the banking. You hear this all the time regarding places like Daytona that feature high-banking. But I'll repeat the old cliche: TV does not do the banking justice.

3. Although the following means certain AR1 employees have surely lost a bet, let the record show I have yet to be summoned to the NASCAR Hauler. This as of 8:24 a.m. local time.

I'm off to the paddock. Got some potential info on next year's schedule, which I hope to pass along in a report later today.

Brian C. reporting from Dover International Speedway