Christopher Bell cashed in when it mattered most by claiming the Busch Light Pole Award for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 14.
The event’s starting lineup was determined through a single-car, single-lap qualifying format. In this format, all 36 competitors vying for 36 starting spots cycled around Las Vegas Motor Speedway once to post the fastest lap amongst one another. The competitor who posted the fastest single lap was awarded the pole position.
During the qualifying session, Bell, who was the fastest competitor during Saturday’s practice session and the next-to-last competitor to qualify, clocked in a single-qualifying pole-winning lap at 187.156 mph in 28.853 seconds. Bell’s lap was enough for the Norman, Oklahoma, native to claim the top-starting spot over Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs.
With the pole, Bell notched his 15th career pole position in the NASCAR Cup Series division, his first of the 2026 season and his fourth at Las Vegas. Bell, who finished in the runner-up spot last weekend at Phoenix Raceway, is also a two-time runner-up finisher at Vegas. Having gained 18 spots up to sixth place in the 2026 driver’s standings, Bell will attempt to win for the first time both at Sin City and this season for Sunday’s main event.
“Our Interstate Batteries Camry feels very nice,” Bell said. “I’ve talked about this a lot throughout the last couple of races, but just super, super proud of my team. We’re finally getting back to where we need to be. It feels good. We used to be able to qualify really well on these intermediates and then, it feels like we fell a little bit off and now we got it back. My engineers, my crew chief, my mechanics, my pit crew. Everybody’s been doing such a good job in 2026. It’s so fun to drive this No. 20 car. I’m excited about tomorrow.”
Bell will share the front row with teammate Denny Hamlin, the latter of whom won the fall Las Vegas event in October 2025. Hamlin clocked in his single-qualifying lap at 186.188 mph in 29.003 seconds. Teammate Ty Gibbs will start in third place with a lap of 185.803 mph in 29.063 seconds
Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson will start fourth and fifth, respectively. Ryan Blaney, winner of last weekend’s event at Phoenix, qualified in sixth place with a lap of 185.185 mph in 29.160 seconds. Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, William Byron and Chris Buescher completed the top-10 starting grid.
Notably, Justin Allgaier, who is filling in for Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Ally/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry, qualified in 22nd place with a lap of 183.824 mph in 29.376 seconds. Bowman continues to recover from a vertigo diagnosis that caused him to be absent from last weekend’s event at Phoenix.
With 36 competitors vying for 36 starting spots, all made the main event.
Las Vegas – Qualifying Position, Best Speed, Best Time:
- Christopher Bell, 187.156 mph, 28.853 seconds
- Denny Hamlin, 186.188 mph, 29.003 seconds
- Ty Gibbs, 185.803 mph, 29.063 seconds
- Bubba Wallace, 185.771 mph, 29.068 seconds
- Kyle Larson, 185.548 mph, 29.103 seconds
- Ryan Blaney, 185.185 mph, 29.160 seconds
- Tyler Reddick, 185.134 mph, 29.168 seconds
- Ryan Preece, 184.900 mph, 29.205 seconds
- William Byron, 184.824 mph, 29.217 seconds
- Chris Buescher, 184.647 mph, 29.245 seconds
- Austin Dillon, 184.615 mph, 29.250 seconds
- Zane Smith, 184.603 mph, 29.250 seconds
- Daniel Suarez, 184.433 mph, 29.279 seconds
- Erik Jones, 184.395 mph, 29.285 seconds
- Chase Elliott, 184.370 mph, 29.289 seconds
- Shane van Gisbergen, 184.338 mph, 29.294 seconds
- Ross Chastain, 184.062 mph, 29.338 seconds
- Chase Briscoe, 184.030 mph, 29.343 seconds
- Carson Hocevar, 183.949 mph, 29.356 seconds
- Riley Herbst, 183.905 mph, 29.363 seconds
- Joey Logano, 183.824 mph, 29.376 seconds
- Justin Allgaier, 183.824 mph, 29.376 seconds
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 183.755 mph, 29.387 seconds
- Kyle Busch, 183.331 mph, 29.455 seconds
- Connor Zilisch, 183.187 mph, 29.478 seconds
- John Hunter Nemechek, 183.094 mph, 29.493 seconds
- Todd Gilliland, 183.094 mph, 29.493 seconds
- Brad Keselowski, 183.026 mph, 29.504 seconds
- AJ Allmendinger, 182.865 mph, 29.530 seconds
- Michael McDowell, 182.113 mph, 29.652 seconds
- Austin Cindric, 181.879 mph, 29.690 seconds
- Josh Berry, 181.543 mph, 29.745 seconds
- Cody Ware, 181.391 mph, 29.770 seconds
- Noah Gragson, 179.647 mph, 30.059 seconds
- Cole Custer, 178.512 mph, 30.250 seconds
- Ty Dillon, 176.430 mph, 30.607 seconds
The 2026 Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway is scheduled to occur on Sunday, March 15, at 4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
