NASCAR

NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET: Qualifying, Christopher Bell’s Pole Position, Lineup At Kansas Speedway   

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By
Jeff Hawkins
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Jeff Hawkins Sports Editor

Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry, in both print and digital media. He joined the Sportscasting team in 2021 following a decade of freelancing. He spent his early career as a reporter for various newspapers in Illinois, New York, Florida, North Carolina, and Michigan, with a particular emphasis as a beat reporter for the Chicago Blackhawks. Jeff earned his bachelor's degree in journalism from Oakland University. Over the course of his career he earned several sports writing awards, including two national awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for column writing and news reporting. One of the five prized columns included a commentary on NASCAR's increasing corporate influences, particularly in northern racetracks — commentary which you might find Jeff building on as part of the Motorsports writing team at Sportscasting now.  

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Published28 Sep 2024

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christopher bell at media day (1)

NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell on Saturday edged Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs by 0.04 seconds to earn the pole position for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET at Kansas Speedway.

Again.

After turning a hot qualifying lap of 179.336 mph, Bell will start the Round of 12 opener on the inside of the front row for the second time this season, third straight time overall and fourth all-time at the 1.5-mile paved track.

“It’s always been a great track to qualify at,” Bell said, as reported by NASCAR.com. “I’ll tell you what, it’s the people that work on this race car that made the statement. “We showed up with probably the best Kansas car we’ve ever had. Today, it was different. It felt really, really good in practice. I felt really comfortable driving the car.”

A Round of 16 competitor who was eliminated from postseason contention last weekend, Gibbs rebounded with a 179.099 mph rotation. Gibbs visited Victory Lane at Kansas following an Xfinity Series in October 2021.

Kyle Larson won the Advent Health 400 on May 5 and Bell earned a P4.

Of the four times he started first at Kansas, Bell has yet to convert the prime position into a win. But this time he will look to maintain better balance.

“The tough thing about Kansas is maintaining the balance,” Bell said. “This place, with these (Next Gen) cars, it swings really, really bad. You’ll start off really comfortable, and depending on how your car is, you might go really tight, you might go really loose.

“Typically, the fast lane is up top, but then you have to really adjust your line to what your balance is doing. I’ve got to drive a little bit better here (Sunday) than I have in the previous Kansas races, but I definitely have the car to do it.”

Bell enters Sunday P2 in the playoff standings, 24 points above the elimination line.

Tyler Reddick Attempting To Shake Playoff Skid 

The Cup Series’ first-time regular-season champion needed all the bonus points available to reach the Round of 12. The 28-year-old required a buffer after slumping in the past two postseason events, placing P27 at Watkins Glen and P20 at Bristol. 

“It was definitely not a good first round for us,” Reddick said Saturday, per NASCAR.com. “I think a number of things played into that, but we’ve done a really good job all year long of, at our worst, being able to still get a top 10 out of it. Some of the handling issues that we had at tracks where normally it’s not an issue for us really set that in stone for that first round.  

“We still could have scored decent points, especially the last two races, but we were just missing things a little bit, made mistakes in qualifying on my behalf that put us back there.” 

Entering Sunday’s Round of 12 opener, Reddick sits in third place, 20 points above the cutoff line. He qualified P4 Saturday.

Starting Lineup for NASCAR Cup Series’ Hollywood Casino 400 

Here is a look at the lineup for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series’ Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET at Kansas Speedway:   

Starting Position, Driver, Car No., Team

  • 1, Christopher Bell, 20, Joe Gibbs Racing 
  • 2, Ty Gibbs, 54, Joe Gibbs Racing 
  • 3, Kyle Busch, 8, Richard Childress Racing 
  • 4, Tyler Reddick, 45, 23XI Racing 
  • 5, Joey Logano, 22, Team Penske 
  • 6, William Byron, 24, Hendrick Motorsports   
  • 7, Ryan Blaney, 12, Team Penske 
  • 8, Denny Hamlin, 11, Joe Gibbs Racing 
  • 9, Chase Briscoe, 14, Stewart-Haas Racing 
  • 10, Daniel Suarez, 99, Trackhouse Racing 
  • 11, Kyle Larson, 5, Hendrick Motorsports    
  • 12, Alex Bowman, 48, Hendrick Motorsports  
  • 13, Bubba Wallace, 23, 23XI Racing 
  • 14, Carson Hocevar, 77, Spire Motorsports 
  • 15, Zane Smith, 71, Spire Motorsports 
  • 16, Erik Jones, 43, Legacy Motor Club 
  • 17, Austin Cindric, 2, Team Penske 
  • 18, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 47, JTG Daugherty Racing 
  • 19, Martin Truex Jr., 19, Joe Gibbs Racing 
  • 20, Ross Chastain, 1, Trackhouse Racing 
  • 21, Michael McDowell, 34, Front Row Motorsports 
  • 22, Austin Dillon, 3, Richard Childress Racing 
  • 23, Justin Haley, 7, Spire Motorsports 
  • 24, Noah Gragson, 42, Stewart-Haas Racing 
  • 25, Chris Buescher, 17, RFK Racing 
  • 26, Brad Keselowski, 6, RFK Racing  
  • 27, Corey LaJoie, 51, Rick Ware Racing 
  • 28, Harrison Burton, 21, Wood Brothers Racing  
  • 29, Josh Berry, 4, Stewart-Haas Racing 
  • 30, Daniel Hemric, 31, Kaulig Racing 
  • 31, John Hunter Nemechek, 42, Legacy Motor Club 
  • 32, Ty Dillon, 16, Kaulig Racing 
  • 33, Todd Gilliland, 38, Front Row Motorsports 
  • 34, Kaz Grala, 15, Rick Ware Racing 
  • 35, Jimmie Johnson, 84, Legacy Motor Club 
  • 36, JJ Yeley, 44, NY Racing Team 
  • 37, Ryan Preece, 41, Stewart-Haas Racing 
  • 38, Chase Elliott, 9, Hendrick Motorsports