Christopher Bell eyes 4th straight win; drivers eager for Las Vegas test
LAS VEGAS -- Christopher Bell is seeking a historic fourth consecutive win on Sunday as the NASCAR Cup Series descends on Sin City for the Pennzoil 400.
With a win, Bell would become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four straight Cup races. Only eight drivers have achieved the feat in NASCAR's modern era (post-1972) and five of those drivers went on to win the championship, including Johnson in 2007 and Jeff Gordon in 1998.
Bell, 30, has never won a race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, though he's finished second in two of the last three races held at the track.
With Las Vegas being the first intermediate track on the 2025 schedule, the race gives both Bell in his No. 20 Toyota and the rest of the field their first real opportunity to gauge their car on the style of race track on which a large portion of the schedule is contested. Some of those races are among the most important on NASCAR's schedule, including October's South Point 400 in Vegas.
"Vegas is a true barometer of the intermediates," Bell, the Joe Gibbs Racing standout, told the NASCAR Wire Service. "It's kind of like the last style of track that we haven't been to yet this season. It's an important race because you have a lot of points to be gained or lost on the intermediate-style tracks, but what makes Vegas even more important is that it's in the Round of 8 (of the Playoffs).
"That race, when you come back in the fall, is super important to have a really solid points day and contend for a win. That fall Vegas race is everything, and there's no better tune-up for it than the spring Vegas race."
Perhaps the greatest threat to end Bell's hot streak on Sunday is 2021 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, who has won at the "Diamond in the Desert" three times since joining Hendrick Motorsports before the 2021 season. Larson's first win with Hendrick came at Las Vegas in March 2021 and Larson has claimed two of the previous three races held at the track, winning the South Point 400 in October 2023 and the Pennzoil 400 in March 2024.
"I think since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, it's probably been our best race track," Larson said. "Getting a few wins, I think two other second-place finishes in that time has also been really good. The track is great but getting to come to the city and have fun on the strip and all the stuff that it has to offer, it probably makes it one of my three favorite races to get to."
Like Bell, Larson is also is looking forward to getting a true feel for the kind of car he has this season on an intermediate track.
"The way schedule is now, you go to Daytona, then you go to Atlanta and then you go to a road course," Larson said "You almost have to wait a whole month to realize how your season might be and how you'll be on speed. I think all of us teams are really, really excited to get on track for practice, get back into the more bulk of the schedule with this style of race track."
Despite Bell's hot start to the season, it's actually William Byron who enters Sunday's race in the points lead by 13 points over Bell. Byron won the season-opening Daytona 500 in February and earned the pole on his way to a sixth-place finish in Phoenix, in addition to finishing second at the first Daytona Duel and at the Circuit of the Americas on March 2.
Bell qualified in 13th position. Lackluster qualifying hasn't been a deterrent for Bell thus far, as he started 19th before winning at Circuit of the Americas and 32nd before winning at Atlanta.
Spire Racing's Michael McDowell captured pole position for the seventh time in his career during Saturday's qualifying session for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. McDowell's previous six poles all came during the 2024 season, his 17th in the Cup Series.
Joey Logano will start Sunday's race alongside McDowell on the front of the grid, qualifying in the top two at Las Vegas for the third time in five races. Austin Cindric will start third, while Las Vegas native Kyle Busch starts in fourth.
Logano is the most recent winner at Las Vegas, as his victory at the South Point 400 in October 2024 propelled him to his third NASCAR title.
--Will Despart, Field Level Media
Field Level Media 2025 - All Rights Reserved
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