Michael McDowell, driver of the #71 Group 1001 Chevrolet, poses for photos after winning the pole award during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 15, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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