{"id":48737,"date":"2024-10-19T18:30:29","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T23:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=48737"},"modified":"2024-10-21T15:37:48","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T20:37:48","slug":"christopher-bell-collects-third-busch-light-pole-award-at-las-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/19\/christopher-bell-collects-third-busch-light-pole-award-at-las-vegas\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Bell\u00a0collects\u00a0third Busch Light Pole Award at Las Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Christopher Bell earned the pole position for Sunday\u2019s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) \u2013 his third pole of the year and third at the 1.5-mile Vegas high banks.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 19, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Saturday\u2019s lap of 185.344 mph in the No. 20 JGR Toyota bested fellow NASCAR Cup Series Playoff driver Tyler Reddick\u2019s No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota by a slight .013-second. It marks the 13th<\/sup> career pole position for the 29-year old Bell, however a win Sunday would be his first victory from the top starting spot on the grid.<\/p>\n

The second-place starter has won the last three Las Vegas races. Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Kyle Busch is the last driver to win at Vegas from pole position \u2013 in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel really good, I feel really comfortable,\u2019\u2019 said Bell, who is currently ranked second to Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Kyle Larson in the championship as the three-race Round of 8 takes the green flag Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn practice, I don\u2019t think the pace showed what we had but inside the car I felt super, super comfortable so I know we\u2019ll have a shot tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in this position many a time and haven\u2019t won the race . \u2026We\u2019ve come close several times and this is a great race track for me so I\u2019m really optimistic. I think we\u2019ve got the car to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, reacts after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 19, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Meg Oliphant\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Six of the eight Playoff cars advanced to the final round of qualifying including Bell\u2019s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, who will roll off fourth. Larson \u2013 who has won the last two races in Las Vegas – will start fifth, Hendrick\u2019s William Byron and Team Penske\u2019s Joey Logano, who will start ninth and 10th<\/sup>respectively.<\/p>\n

Hendrick\u2019s Alex Bowman,, who was eliminated from Playoff contention just last week, will start third. Spire Motorsports rookie Carson Hocevar will roll off sixth. Trackhouse Racing\u2019 Ross Chastain (seventh) and JGR\u2019s Ty Gibbs (eighth) were the other drivers to advance to the final qualifying round.<\/p>\n

Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Chase Elliott was one of only two Playoff drivers who did not make the final round of time trials and he will start his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 18th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

The reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, Team Penske\u2019s Ryan Blaney, had an incident during practice \u2013 hitting the wall after cutting a rear tire \u2013 and was forced to miss qualifying. He will put a back-up No. 12 Penske Ford on the grid, starting last in the 37-car field.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 19, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 \u201cIt\u2019ll be a big challenge for multiple reasons, but I feel confident,\u2019\u2019 said Blaney, whose 11.4 average finish at Las Vegas is third best among the Playoff drivers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, we can make our way through there.  We\u2019ve got all race.  We might not be able to get stage points in the first one, but hopefully by the second one maybe we\u2019ll get some stage points and then hopefully the speed is good enough to where we can run up towards the front.  Yeah, it sets us back a little bit, but this group is ready to go and they know the new task.  It\u2019s gonna be a tall one tomorrow, but I\u2019ve got faith we can make the most of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of note, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson will start 29th<\/sup> in the No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota \u2013 the eighth start of the season for the team\u2019s owner-driver. New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen will start 34th<\/sup> in the Kaulig Racing No. 16 Chevrolet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service LAS VEGAS \u2013 Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Christopher Bell earned the pole position for Sunday\u2019s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) \u2013 his third pole of the year and third at the 1.5-mile Vegas high banks. Saturday\u2019s lap of 185.344 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[451,67,16],"class_list":["post-48737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","tag-christopher-bell","tag-las-vegas-motor-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cG5","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48738,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48737\/revisions\/48738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}