NASCAR Cup Series at Kansas starting lineup: Christopher Bell wins third pole of the season

Christopher Bell has won the pole for the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway, laying down a lap of 30.071 (179.575 MPH) to beat Tyler Reddick for the top starting spot. Bell’s pole is his third of the 2022 season, following up on poles earlier this year at Las Vegas and Talladega.

Bell was a good deal  faster than the competition throughout time trials, as his lap of record in Group B was nearly three full tenths faster than Alex Bowman. Although the rest of the top five qualifiers in the final round picked up to within nearly a tenth, Bell was still able to outpace them with a lap that was nearly 30 seconds flat.

Qualifying was fairly uneventful in comparison to practice, which featured an usually high number of left rear tire failures. Chris Buescher, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and last week’s winner Joey Logano all spun and crashed after tire failures, and Cody Ware also spun while not hitting anything. Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin also had left rear tires go down, but both were able to make it back to their pit stalls without incident.

Logano and Buescher will both go to backup cars, while Ricky Stenhouse’s team will fix the damage to their primary car. According to Bob Pockrass of Fox Sports, Denny Hamlin’s team opted to repair damage to their rear diffuser, which means he will have to drop to the rear of the field before the start.

Logano’s crash compounded his team’s pre-qualifying troubles, as his car failed tech inspection twice, leading to loss of pit selection and the ejection of a crewmember. Justin Haley’s team also failed inspection twice and received the same penalty.

AdventHealth 400 starting lineup

1. #20 – Christopher Bell
2. #8 – Tyler Reddick
3. #5 – Kyle Larson
4. #2 – Austin Cindric (R)
5. #45 – Kurt Busch
6. #18 – Kyle Busch
7. #10 – Aric Almirola
8. #48 – Alex Bowman
9. #19 – Martin Truex Jr.
10. #12 – Ryan Blaney
11. #1 – Ross Chastain
12. #14 – Chase Briscoe
13. #24 – William Byron
14. #9 – Chase Elliott
15. #31 – Justin Haley
16. #41 – Cole Custer
17. #42 – Ty Dillon
18. #11 – Denny Hamlin
19. #99 – Daniel Suarez
20. #7 – Corey LaJoie
21. #3 – Austin Dillon
22. #43 – Erik Jones
23. #4 – Kevin Harvick
24. #23 – Bubba Wallace
25. #34 – Michael McDowell
26. #21 – Harrison Burton (R)
27. #15 – J.J. Yeley
28. #16 – Noah Gragson
29. #51 – Cody Ware
30. #38 – Todd Gilliland (R)
31. #6 – Brad Keselowski
32. #78 – B.J. McLeod
33. #77 – Josh Bilicki
34. #22 – Joey Logano
35. #17 – Chris Buescher
36. #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.