NASCAR News: McDowell wins pole for Las Vegas Cup race
A change of scene did nothing to diminish Michael McDowell’s qualifying prowess. After winning the first six pole positions of his NASCAR Cup Series career with Front Row Motorsports last season, McDowell moved to Spire Motorsports in 2025 and apparently retained the speed he found last year.
Turning a lap at 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 28.883 seconds (186.961 mph) in Saturday’s time trials, McDowell claimed the top starting spot for Sunday’s Pennzoil 400—his first Busch Light Pole Award at Las Vegas, his first of the season and the seventh of his career.
Turns 3 and 4 were the key to McDowell’s blistering lap. When his No. 71 Chevrolet stuck firmly in the first two corners, McDowell took full advantage during the balance of the run.
“When my car went through (Turns) 1 and 2 and had a lot of grip, I didn’t think I had used it all up,” said McDowell, who beat reigning series champion Joey Logano (186.864 mph) for the pole by 0.015 seconds. “I knew that I had an opportunity to potentially do that (run the final two corners) without scrubbing speed and without putting myself in a bad spot.
“That’s the chance you take, right? You put wheel into it, get loose, and you start tracking up. The car had a lot of speed, obviously, and a lot of grip, and just from studying and seeing how (Christopher) Bell was able to do that last year in Round 2 … I felt like that was the right move to make.
In Saturday’s session, which featured a single lap from each car, Austin Cindric qualified third at 186.793 mph, followed by Kyle Busch (186.638 mph) and Erik Jones (186.632 mph).
Alex Bowman, Josh Berry, William Byron, Zane Smith and Kyle Larson claimed positions six through 10 on the starting grid, respectively.
Christopher Bell, seeking a fourth straight Cup Series victory, claimed the 13th starting spot. NASCAR Wire Service
Qualifying Results
Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Time | Speed |
1 | 71 | Michael McDowell | Group 1001 Chevrolet | 28.883 | 186.961 |
2 | 22 | Joey Logano | Pennzoil Ultra Premium Ford | 28.898 | 186.864 |
3 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Discount Tire Ford | 28.909 | 186.793 |
4 | 8 | Kyle Busch | BetMGM Chevrolet | 28.933 | 186.638 |
5 | 43 | Erik Jones | Dollar Tree Toyota | 28.934 | 186.632 |
6 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Ally Chevrolet | 28.936 | 186.619 |
7 | 21 | Josh Berry | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford | 28.939 | 186.599 |
8 | 24 | William Byron | Raptor Chevrolet | 28.944 | 186.567 |
9 | 38 | Zane Smith | TitleMax Ford | 28.946 | 186.554 |
10 | 5 | Kyle Larson | HendrickCars.com Chevrolet | 28.950 | 186.528 |
11 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Smith’s/Dasani Ford | 28.964 | 186.438 |
12 | 60 | Ryan Preece | Consumer Cellular Ford | 28.967 | 186.419 |
13 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Interstate Batteries Toyota | 28.984 | 186.310 |
14 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | The Beast Toyota | 28.991 | 186.265 |
15 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Yahoo! Toyota | 28.995 | 186.239 |
16 | 9 | Chase Elliott | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 29.000 | 186.207 |
17 | 10 | Ty Dillon | Sea Best Chevrolet | 29.019 | 186.085 |
18 | 16 | AJ Allmendinger | Action Industries Chevrolet | 29.020 | 186.079 |
19 | 1 | Ross Chastain | Kubota Orange Days Sales Event Chevrolet | 29.021 | 186.072 |
20 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | U.S. Air Force Toyota | 29.035 | 185.982 |
21 | 4 | Noah Gragson | Beef A Roo Ford | 29.059 | 185.829 |
22 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Dow MobilityScience Chevrolet | 29.068 | 185.771 |
23 | 99 | Daniel Suarez | Freeway Insurance Chevrolet | 29.082 | 185.682 |
24 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Bass Pro Shops Spring Fishing Classic Toyota | 29.131 | 185.370 |
25 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Delaware Life Chevrolet | 29.133 | 185.357 |
26 | 41 | Cole Custer | HaasTooling.com Ford | 29.135 | 185.344 |
27 | 6 | Brad Keselowski | Castrol Ford | 29.149 | 185.255 |
28 | 88 | Shane Van Gisbergen # | Red Bull Chevrolet | 29.185 | 185.027 |
29 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Monster Energy Toyota | 29.191 | 184.989 |
30 | 42 | John Hunter Nemechek | Backstreet Boys Toyota | 29.243 | 184.660 |
31 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Real American Beer Chevrolet | 29.285 | 184.395 |
32 | 34 | Todd Gilliland | Love’s Travel Stops Ford | 29.344 | 184.024 |
33 | 7 | Justin Haley | Gainbridge Chevrolet | 29.371 | 183.855 |
34 | 35 | Riley Herbst # | SunnyD Toyota | 29.788 | 181.281 |
35 | 51 | Cody Ware | Evel Knievel/Parts Plus Ford | 30.093 | 179.444 |
36 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Menards/Pennzoil Ford | 0.000 | 0.000 |