Christopher Bell made the first move of NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers to begin the Round of 8 by claiming the pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Bell (P) went to the top of the board in the final round of qualifying at 185.344mph (29.135s). It’s his third pole of the season and at Las Vegas.
“A lot of execution,” Bell said of going from the pole to the win Sunday afternoon. “Las Vegas, and all of these Cup races, are just really long races and there is a lot of things that go on between the green flag and the checkered flag that dictates the outcome of the race. I’ve sat in this position many times now, and I’ve yet to win the race on Sunday starting from that first position. We’ve come close several times, and this is a great race track for me.
“I’m optimistic about it and I felt really good in practice. Sometimes that means more than you see in qualifying. I think we have the car to do it, and hopefully I’m up for the job, our team executes well, and we are able to put it all together.”
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Tyler Reddick (P) qualified second at 185.251mph; Alex Bowman, third at 184.963mph; Denny Hamlin (P), fourth at 185.052mph and Kyle Larson (P), fifth at 184.900mph.
Larson is the defending race winner of the South Point 400. He also won at Las Vegas in the spring.
Carson Hocevar ran sixth at 184.590mph; Ross Chastain, seventh at 184.811mph; Ty Gibbs, eighth at 184.458mph; William Byron (P), ninth at 184.666mph and Joey Logano (P) completed the top 10 at 184.382mph.
Chase Elliott (P) qualified 18th at 183.792mph. He was the slowest playoff driver who made a qualifying lap.
Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney (P) will start last. Blaney did not make a qualifying run after a crash in practice – from a punctured tire – had his team working on preparing the backup car.
(P) denotes Playoff driver