Christopher Bell is two-for-two in NASCAR Cup Series playoff race poles after topping the chart Saturday at Kansas Speedway.
Bell was the final driver to qualify in the final round and put up a lap of 180.276mph (29.954s). The Joe Gibbs Racing driver also won the pole last weekend at Darlington Raceway. It’s Bell’s fourth pole of the season and the eighth of his career.
“I love this place,” Bell said. “That was a lot of fun; qualifying here is very intense and that’s certainly all we had. I felt really good in practice today; race trim is what it’s all about. Week after week we keep coming to the racetrack with cars that are capable of racing for wins and I’m ready to put it all together.
“Thankful to have all of our partners behind us. We got DeWalt on the car this weekend, and I’ve been running really good with them, so hopefully we can give them a good show again tomorrow.”
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Kyle Larson qualified second at 179.826mph, Martin Truex Jr. third at 178.767mph, Chase Elliott fourth at 178.648mph and Tyler Reddick fifth at 178.495mph.
Ross Chastain qualified sixth at 178.324mph, Michael McDowell seventh at 178.271mph and Austin Dillon eighth at 178.200mph. William Byron qualified ninth at 177.778mph but will move to the rear of the field Sunday because of a suspension part change. Bubba Wallace was 10th at 177.421mph.
Eight playoff drivers failed to make the final qualifying round and will start outside the top 10. Four of them will start 16th or worse.
Joey Logano qualified 11th, Brad Keselowski 12th, Chris Buescher 13th and Denny Hamlin 14th. Hamlin won at Kansas Speedway in the spring.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified 16th, Ryan Blaney 17th and Kevin Harvick 20th. Kyle Busch did not make a qualifying lap and will start 35th.
Busch’s team is still determining if they can repair his damaged car after having a blown tire resulting in contact with the wall in practice. They may have to go to a backup for Sunday’s race.
Ty Gibbs also did not make a qualifying attempt. Gibbs will be in a backup car after hitting the wall off Turn 2, also because of a blown tire in practice.
UP NEXT: Hollywood Casino 400 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on USA Network.