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Qualifying report
NASCAR Cup Kansas II

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

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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