Qualifying report

NASCAR Cup Kansas II

NASCAR Kansas: Christopher Bell rebounds with Cup pole

Christopher Bell rebounded from a tough playoff opener last weekend and once again put himself in position for a NASCAR Cup playoff victory.

Jim Utter

Edited: Sep 9, 2023, 6:30 PM

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Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry

Bell rocketed to the top of the chart in the final round of Saturday’s qualifying session and won the pole for Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway with an average lap speed of 180.276mph.

Bell, 28, also won the pole for last weekend’s race at Darlington but had issues on pit road and ended up with a 23rd place finish.

The pole is Bell’s fourth of the 2023 season and eighth of his career.

“We got the car to do it [Sunday], that’s for sure,” Bell said. “That was a lot of fun. Qualifying here is very intense. That’s certainly all we had.

“We had a good practice today and race trim is what it’s all about. Week after week we keep coming to the race track with cars capable of racing for wins. We’re ready to put it all together.

“We just have to go out there and run our race. Clear air feels a lot better than being back there in the pack. Hopefully, I got to clean up my part driving. If we put it all together, we’re capable of doing bunches of good things.”

Last weekend’s race winner, Kyle Larson, ended up second (179.826 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. was third (178.767 mph).

Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick – who was fastest in practice – rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 starting lineup are Ross Chastain, Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon, William Byron and Bubba Wallace.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

Driver Info

Main Information

Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph 1 United States C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 1 29.954 180.276 2 K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 1 +0.075 0.075 179.826 3 M. Truex Jr Joe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 1 +0.253 0.178 178.767 4 C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 1 +0.273 0.020 178.648 5 T. Reddick 23XI Racing 45 Toyota 1 +0.299 0.026 178.495 6 United States R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 1 +0.328 0.029 178.324 7 M. McDowell Front Row Motorsports 34 Ford 1 +0.337 0.009 178.271 8 A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 1 +0.349 0.012 178.200 9 W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 1 +0.421 0.072 177.778 10 B. Wallace 23XI Racing 23 Toyota 1 +0.482 0.061 177.421 View full results

Round 1/Group A

Reddick replicated his speed from practice on Saturday by leading the way in Group A with an average lap speed of 178.814 mph.

Wallace was second fastest (178.719 mph) and Byron recovered from his steering issues in practice to post the third-best speed (178.571 mph).

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying were Truex and Elliott.

Among those who failed to move on were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick – all playoff drivers.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

Driver Info

Main Information

Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph 1 United States T. Reddick 23XI Racing 45 Toyota 1 30.199 178.814 2 B. Wallace 23XI Racing 23 Toyota 1 +0.016 0.016 178.719 3 W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 1 +0.041 0.025 178.571 4 M. Truex Jr Joe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 1 +0.176 0.135 177.778 5 C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 1 +0.182 0.006 177.743 6 United States R. Stenhouse Jr JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Chevrolet 1 +0.238 0.056 177.416 7 R. Blaney Team Penske 12 Ford 1 +0.252 0.014 177.334 8 E. Jones Legacy Motor Club 43 Chevrolet 1 +0.270 0.018 177.229 9 K. Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 4 Ford 1 +0.317 0.047 176.956 10

C. Hocevar Legacy Motor Club

42 Chevrolet 1 +0.386 0.069 176.557 11 United States A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 1 +0.423 0.037 176.344 12 A. Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 10 Ford 1 +0.493 0.070 175.942 13 C. Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing 14 Ford 1 +0.512 0.019 175.833 14 H. Burton Wood Brothers Racing 21 Ford 1 +0.575 0.063 175.473 15 J. Haley Kaulig Racing 31 Chevrolet 1 +0.619 0.044 175.222 16 United States J. Yeley Rick Ware Racing 15 Ford 1 +0.690 0.071 174.820 17 T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports 38 Ford 1 +0.694 0.004 174.797 18 S. Creed Live Fast Motorsports 78 Chevrolet 1 +0.966 0.272 173.271 View full results

Round 1/Group B

Chastain surprised by leading Group B with the fastest average lap speed of the day so far (180.451 mph).

Bell was second quick (179.247 mph) while Larson was third (179.033 mph).

Also advancing to the final round of qualifying from Group B were McDowell and Austin Dillon.

Among those who failed to move on were Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher – all playoff drivers.

Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch, who both hit the wall in practice, did not attempt to qualify.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

Driver Info

Main Information

Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph 1 United States R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 1 29.925 180.451 2 C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 1 +0.201 0.201 179.247 3 K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 1 +0.237 0.036 179.033 4 M. McDowell Front Row Motorsports 34 Ford 1 +0.250 0.013 178.956 5 A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 1 +0.328 0.078 178.495 6 United States J. Logano Team Penske 22 Ford 1 +0.472 0.144 177.649 7 B. Keselowski RFK Racing 6 Ford 1 +0.479 0.007 177.608 8 C. Buescher RFK Racing 17 Ford 1 +0.492 0.013 177.532 9 D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 1 +0.496 0.004 177.509 10 Mexico D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing 99 Chevrolet 1 +0.501 0.005 177.480 11 United States A. Cindric Team Penske 2 Ford 1 +0.533 0.032 177.293 12 A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 1 +0.662 0.129 176.546 13 C. Lajoie Spire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 1 +0.730 0.068 176.154 14 C. Custer Rick Ware Racing 51 Ford 1 +0.799 0.069 175.758 15 R. Preece Stewart-Haas Racing 41 Ford 1 +0.831 0.032 175.575 16 United States T. Dillon Spire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 1 +1.031 0.200 174.441 17

T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing

54 Toyota 0 18 United States K. Busch Richard Childress Racing 8 Chevrolet 0 View full results

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