Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has brought a TON of speed to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the first mile-and-a-half event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, not just leading practice in commanding fashion, but also sweeping the top-three in qualifying for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400.
Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE, was the fastest driver in the sole practice session for the NASCAR Cup Series on Saturday, besting teammate Denny Hamlin by a tenth of a second. Later in the day, though, in qualifying, the Norman, Oklahoma-native turned it up a notch.
With an insanely quick qualifying run clocking in at 28.853 seconds (187.156mph), the fastest lap turned in a NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway since Fall 2018, Bell managed to dethrone his veteran teammate, Hamlin, by a tenth and a half on the speed charts.
STARTING LINEUP: NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 (Las Vegas)
“I’ve talked about this a lot throughout the last couple of races, but just super proud of my team,” Bell said after qualifying. “We’re finally getting back to where we need to be. We used to be able to qualify really well on these intermediates, then, I don’t know, it feels like we fell a little bit off, and now we’ve got it back. My engineers, my crew chief, my mechanics, my pit crew have been doing such a good job in 2026. It’s so fun to drive this No. 20, and I’m so excited about tomorrow.”
Joe Gibbs Racing managed to sweep the top-three positions in qualifying with Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE, sitting in third place, a whopping two tenths of a second behind Bell’s pole-winning speed.
Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson rounded out the top-five in the first mile-and-a-half qualifying session of 2026. Ryan Blaney was the quickest Ford Mustang Dark Horse in sixth, with Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, William Byron, and Chris Buescher completing the top-10.
Other notable drivers outside the top-10 include Chase Elliott (15th), Ross Chastain (17th), Chase Briscoe (18th), Joey Logano (21st), Kyle Busch (24th), Brad Keselowski (28th), Austin Cindric (31st), and defending Las Vegas winner Josh Berry (32nd).
Justin Allgaier, serving as the interim driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet for Alex Bowman, as he deals with vertigo, qualified 21st for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400.
The fifth event of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series campaign will take place on Sunday, March 15, at 4:00 PM ET on FOX Sports 1, Performance Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
