The starting lineup for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 (3:49 p.m. ET green flag; Fox, TSN1, PRN) was determined via qualifying Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Ten drivers competed for the pole position with single-car, single-lap runs around Las Vegas's 1.5-mile oval. The field was split into two groups for qualifying after practice, and the five fastest cars in each group in the first round advanced to the second round.
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On-track qualifying is scheduled for all races this season. It was stopped early in the 2020 season and limited to eight races in the 2021 season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. NASCAR scaled back qualifying to help reduce the amount of time teams spent at the track.
Who won the pole for the NASCAR race at Las Vegas?
Christopher Bell earned his first career pole in Saturday's qualifying. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was the fifth of 10 drivers to make runs in the second and final round.
Retweet to congratulate @CBellRacing on his first career NASCAR Cup Series pole!
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His 182.673 mph average speed on the 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval was more than six-tenths of a second faster than runner-up Kyle Larson (182.014).
Larson will be looking to go back-to-back in the Vegas spring race. He won at the track last March, his first of a series-high 10 wins during his Cup Series championship season.
Starting lineup for Las Vegas race
Thirty-seven Cup Series teams were entered for Sunday's race: all 36 charter teams and the open NY Racing Team with Greg Biffle as its driver.
Kyle Busch will begin at the rear of the field in a backup car after crashing in practice Saturday. The left rear tire on Busch's No. 18 car went flat, causing the car to spin into the outside wall.
| Starting pos. | Driver | Car No. | Team |
| 1 | Christopher Bell | 20 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 2 | Kyle Larson | 5 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 3 | Austin Cindric | 2 | Team Penske |
| 4 | Chase Briscoe | 14 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 5 | Chase Elliott | 9 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 6 | Joey Logano | 22 | Team Penske |
| 7 | Tyler Reddick | 8 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | 11 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 9 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 47 | JTG Daugherty Racing |
| 10 | Austin Dillon | 3 | Richard Childress Racing |
| 11 | Ryan Blaney | 12 | Team Penske |
| 12 | Martin Truex Jr. | 19 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| 13 | Alex Bowman | 48 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 14 | William Byron | 24 | Hendrick Motorsports |
| 15 | Brad Keselowski | 6 | RFK Racing |
| 16 | Daniel Hemric | 16 | Kaulig Racing |
| 17 | Bubba Wallace | 23 | 23XI Racing |
| 18 | Ross Chastain | 1 | Trackhouse Racing |
| 19 | Harrison Burton | 21 | Wood Brothers Racing |
| 20 | Aric Almirola | 10 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 21 | Daniel Suarez | 99 | Trackhouse Racing |
| 22 | Michael McDowell | 34 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 23 | Erik Jones | 43 | Petty GMS Motorsports |
| 24 | Cole Custer | 41 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 25 | Kevin Harvick | 4 | Stewart-Haas Racing |
| 26 | Greg Biffle | 44 | NY Racing Team |
| 27 | Chris Buescher | 17 | RFK Racing |
| 28 | Justin Haley | 31 | Kaulig Racing |
| 29 | Corey LaJoie | 7 | Spire Motorsports |
| 30 | Todd Gilliland | 38 | Front Row Motorsports |
| 31 | Kurt Busch | 45 | 23XI Racing |
| 32 | Ty Dillon | 42 | Petty GMS Motorsports |
| 33 | Cody Ware | 51 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 34 | Josh Bilicki | 77 | Spire Motorsports |
| 35 | BJ McLeod | 78 | Live Fast Motorsports |
| 36 | Garrett Smithley | 15 | Rick Ware Racing |
| 37 | Kyle Busch | 18 | Joe Gibbs Racing |
