Bell Earns Third Straight Kansas Pole Ahead of Sunday's Round of 12 Opener
Kansas Speedway has always been a great racetrack for Christopher Bell.
The 1.5-mile speedway was the site of the driver's maiden NASCAR Xfinity Series victory back in 2017, and since joining the NASCAR Cup Series has been the venue for four of his 12 pole positions.
Qualifying for Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400, the opening race in the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, saw Bell post the quickest time, laying down a 30.111-second lap (179.336mph) to capture the pole.
It's the third straight pole for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver at Kansas Speedway, and his fourth overall at the track. Being the last driver to post a lap time in the final round, Bell displaced teammate Ty Gibbs at the top of the charts.
Gibbs will start Sunday's 400-mile contest from the runner-up spot, marking his seventh front row starting spot of 2024. The second-year driver was among the top-five drivers in practice and comes to Kansas looking for his first victory after being eliminated from the post-season after Bristol.
Non-playoff driver Kyle Busch will roll from the third spot in his No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing, with regular-season champion Tyler Reddick in fourth, and Joey Logano rounding out the top-five as the first driver from Ford Performance.
William Byron was the leading of a seven-driver line of playoff-eligible drivers from sixth to 12th, which had Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and Daniel Suarez inside the top-10, and Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman in 11th and 12th.
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Austin Cindric, who scored a pair of top-10 results in the opening round to advance into the Round of 12, will start the furthest back of the playoff drivers that didn't find issues in qualifying, in 17th.
Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 UniFirst Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports, will have a significant amount of work to do come Sunday's 400-mile contest, as he starts from the rear of the field due to engine issues in practice and qualifying. The team will change the engine before the race begins, forcing them to drop to the rear of the pack.
The Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway will take place on Sunday, September 29th at 3:00 PM ET on USA Network. Radio coverage of the event will be on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio and the Motor Racing Network (MRN).
