Christopher Bell claims NASCAR Cup pole at Kansas Speedway
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has now earned three consecutive Cup poles at Kansas Speedway as title contender Chase Elliott changes engine
Christopher Bell hasn't lost a pole at Kansas since the spring of 2023, and he will again lead the field to the green flag on Sunday. At a 30.111s, he bested teammate Ty Gibbs by 0.040s off in a front row sweep for for the Joe Gibbs Racing camp.
It was Bell's 12th career pole and his second of the 2024 season.
"I'll tell you what, it's the people that work on this race car that made the statement," said Bell, crediting his team with the fast lap. "Today, we showed up with probably our best Kansas car we've ever had. It's always been a great track for us to qualify at and it seems like whenever we go race, we're always like that third to seventh range. Today, it was different. It felt really, really good in practice. I felt really comfortable driving the car. And then they were able to duplicate the qualifying balance."
Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Rheem Toyota Camry
Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images
Kyle Busch clocked in third for his best qualifying effort since Dover in May. Tyler Reddick and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five. William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and Daniel Suarez filled out the remainder of the top-ten.
Playoff drivers starting deeper in the pack: Kyle Larson (11th); Alex Bowman (12th); Austin Cindric (17th); Chase Elliott (38th).
There were no incidents during qualifying and all drivers set a time.
Round 1
In Group A, Gibbs was the only non-playoff driver to advance. Byron was the fastest driver with a 30.220s lap. Reddick was the final driver to move on, beating Bowman by over a tenth. Ross Chastain led all drivers practice, but failed to advance, qualifying 20th.
Cla | Driver | # | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Interval | Mph | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | W. ByronHendrick Motorsports | 24 | 1 |
30.220 |
178.690 | |||
2 |
T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing
|
54 | 1 |
+0.007 30.227 |
0.007 | 178.648 | ||
3 | D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing | 11 | 1 |
+0.032 30.252 |
0.025 | 178.501 | ||
4 | D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing | 99 | 1 |
+0.089 30.309 |
0.057 | 178.165 | ||
5 | T. Reddick23XI Racing | 45 | 1 |
+0.093 30.313 |
0.004 | 178.141 | ||
6 | A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports | 48 | 1 |
+0.232 30.452 |
0.139 | 177.328 | ||
7 |
C. HocevarSpire Motorsports
|
77 | 1 |
+0.256 30.476 |
0.024 | 177.189 | ||
8 | E. JonesLegacy Motor Club | 43 | 1 |
+0.306 30.526 |
0.050 | 176.898 | ||
9 | R. Stenhouse JrJTG Daugherty Racing | 47 | 1 |
+0.315 30.535 |
0.009 | 176.846 | ||
10 | R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing | 1 | 1 |
+0.387 30.607 |
0.072 | 176.430 | ||
11 | A. DillonRichard Childress Racing | 3 | 1 |
+0.414 30.634 |
0.027 | 176.275 | ||
12 | N. GragsonStewart-Haas Racing | 10 | 1 |
+0.444 30.664 |
0.030 | 176.102 | ||
13 | B. KeselowskiRFK Racing | 6 | 1 |
+0.496 30.716 |
0.052 | 175.804 | ||
14 | H. BurtonWood Brothers Racing | 21 | 1 |
+0.560 30.780 |
0.064 | 175.439 | ||
15 | D. HemricKaulig Racing | 31 | 1 |
+0.589 30.809 |
0.029 | 175.273 | ||
16 | T. DillonKaulig Racing | 16 | 1 |
+0.732 30.952 |
0.143 | 174.464 | ||
17 | K. GralaRick Ware Racing | 15 | 1 |
+0.952 31.172 |
0.220 | 173.232 | ||
18 | J. YeleyNY Racing Team | 44 | 1 |
+1.436 31.656 |
0.484 | 170.584 | ||
19 | C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports | 9 | 1 |
+2.125 32.345 |
0.689 | 166.950 |
Elliott was slowest of all drivers, running off the pace with an engine issue. He will swap engines before the race start, and the No. 9 Hendrick team knew about the issue before qualifying. They only sent him out on track so they can use that set of tires as scuffs during the race. If he had opted out of qualifying, he would have had to use his practice scuffs, which had more laps on them.
In Group B, Bell led the way with a blistering fast lap of 30.043s. Busch was the only non-playoff driver to advance while Briscoe eked his way into the final round. He bested title favorite Larson for the final spot, running 0.060s quicker.
Cla | Driver | # | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Interval | Mph | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing | 20 | 1 |
30.043 |
179.742 | |||
2 | J. LoganoTeam Penske | 22 | 1 |
+0.089 30.132 |
0.089 | 179.211 | ||
3 | K. BuschRichard Childress Racing | 8 | 1 |
+0.112 30.155 |
0.023 | 179.075 | ||
4 | R. BlaneyTeam Penske | 12 | 1 |
+0.119 30.162 |
0.007 | 179.033 | ||
5 | C. BriscoeStewart-Haas Racing | 14 | 1 |
+0.175 30.218 |
0.056 | 178.701 | ||
6 | K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports | 5 | 1 |
+0.235 30.278 |
0.060 | 178.347 | ||
7 | B. Wallace23XI Racing | 23 | 1 |
+0.256 30.299 |
0.021 | 178.224 | ||
8 |
Z. SmithSpire Motorsports
|
71 | 1 |
+0.273 30.316 |
0.017 | 178.124 | ||
9 | A. CindricTeam Penske | 2 | 1 |
+0.276 30.319 |
0.003 | 178.106 | ||
10 | M. Truex JrJoe Gibbs Racing | 19 | 1 |
+0.298 30.341 |
0.022 | 177.977 | ||
11 | M. McDowellFront Row Motorsports | 34 | 1 |
+0.344 30.387 |
0.046 | 177.708 | ||
12 | J. HaleySpire Motorsports | 7 | 1 |
+0.449 30.492 |
0.105 | 177.096 | ||
13 | C. BuescherRFK Racing | 17 | 1 |
+0.483 30.526 |
0.034 | 176.898 | ||
14 | C. LajoieRick Ware Racing | 51 | 1 |
+0.551 30.594 |
0.068 | 176.505 | ||
15 | J. BerryStewart-Haas Racing | 4 | 1 |
+0.553 30.596 |
0.002 | 176.494 | ||
16 | J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club | 42 | 1 |
+0.611 30.654 |
0.058 | 176.160 | ||
17 | T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports | 38 | 1 |
+0.746 30.789 |
0.135 | 175.387 | ||
18 | J. JohnsonLegacy Motor Club | 84 | 1 |
+0.849 30.892 |
0.103 | 174.803 | ||
19 | R. PreeceStewart-Haas Racing | 41 | 1 |
+0.891 30.934 |
0.042 | 174.565 |
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