Bell looks to cash in on pole with NASCAR playoff win at LVMS

NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell isn’t the loudest or most outgoing driver in the garage.

That’s why fellow playoff drivers Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin said Bell is a serious threat to win the Cup Series title despite there not being much of a spotlight on Bell through the first two rounds of the playoffs.

“He’s sneaky, quiet and good,” Larson said. “That’s his personality, too. He’s quiet. He’s not out talking about how good he’s doing. He’s just doing it. Him and his team are super strong.”

Simply put, Bell doesn’t care if he gets any attention or not.

“I’ve been asked this about 18 times today, I don’t care,” Bell said. “I just don’t care.”

Bell laid down a loud lap during qualifying Saturday. He put his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the pole for Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a time of 29.135 and speed of 185.344 mph.

The green flag is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. for the first race in the Round of 8 in the Cup Series playoffs. Tyler Reddick, another playoff driver, qualified second with a lap of 29.148 seconds (185.261 mph).

“I’m going to do my deal whether I’m in the headlines or not,” Bell said. “I’m going to be frustrated whenever I lose, and I’m going to be happy whenever I win. I don’t care if you guys talk about me or not. I’m going to try my hardest to win the race, and that’s that.”

‘Elite speed’

The pole is Bell’s 13th in his career and third at Las Vegas. He started on the pole in last year’s South Point 400 and led 61 laps, but he finished second to Larson.

Bell lost the lead on a late pit stop and ran out of time as he charged through the field to try and catch Larson.

This season, Bell has racked up 20 top-10 finishes and led 844 laps with three wins. Hamlin, who qualified fifth, agreed with Larson’s assessment of Bell.

“They went through a rough patch during the summer similar to us where they were just getting real bad finishes … but they’ve always had elite speed,” Hamlin said of his Joe Gibbs teammate.

“A lot of the metrics show that is one of the fastest when it comes to lap time and driver ratings and things like that,” Hamlin added. “Laying in the weeds is probably a good way to summarize the No. 20 team and Christopher.”

Larson and Bell are leading the playoff point standings. Larson is first with a 33-point margin above the cut line of the top four drivers, and Bell is second with a 13-point cushion.

Along with last year’s win in the fall, Larson won the Pennzoil 400 in March. The 2021 Cup Series champion is a three-time winner at the track.

“There’s no doubt (Larson) is the favorite (at Las Vegas),” Bell said. “Kyle has won, I think, about every stage and every race in the history of the NextGen car here. He’s going to be fast (on Sunday), but I promise you, we’re going to be right here.”

Larson qualified fifth for Sunday’s race and comes into Las Vegas with plenty of momentum. Last week at The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Larson led a race-high 62 laps and claimed his series-leading sixth win of the season.

“Winning helps with confidence, but also coming to a track we have a lot of success at helps more than anything,” Larson said. “I look forward to this weekend, and hopefully our car has good speed like the last couple times here. It’ll be nice to get a win or at least start the round better than we have the other two rounds and gain points.”

Playoff standings

Reddick is third in the playoff standings at 10 points above the cutline, and William Byron is fourth with a four-point advantage. Below the cutline are Ryan Blaney (-4), Hamlin (-8), Chase Elliott (-9) and Joey Logano (-11).

A win for any of the eight playoff drivers Sunday would advance them to the Championship 4 race at Phoenix on Nov. 10 to compete for the Cup Series title.

Six of the eight playoff drivers qualified in the top 10. Elliott will start 18th.

Blaney suffered a flat tire during practice and crashed his primary car. He was unable to qualify and will start last in 37th in a backup car.

Last year, Bell clinched his spot in the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami the week after his second-place run at Las Vegas.

Bell said that even though there is an emphasis on winning to advance to the next round, teams still have to maximize getting as many points as possible and finishing well.

“That’s going to be the hardest part,” Bell said earlier Saturday before practice and qualifying. “The position that we’re in now, we don’t have to win. You have to take that opportunity if it’s in front of you.

“If you’re not able to win, just like I did last year (at Las Vegas), you have to take that second-place, third-place finish.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.