For the most part, all the NASCAR Cup Series championship favorites are all starting the race on Sunday together and up front.
Christopher Bell will lead the field to green with fellow playoff contender Tyler Reddick next to him on the front row. Denny Hamlin will start on the outside second row to begin a stretch of races where he feels like he controls his own destiny.
Kyle Larson won this race last year to punch his ticket to the final four at Phoenix Raceway and he starts fifth with William Byron and Joey Logano starting ninth and tenth.
Nine points below the cutline, Chase Elliott is starting 18th and needing to make up some ground and defending champion Ryan Blaney is starting at the rear after crashing in practice and needing to pull down a backup car.
Bell just narrowly lost this race to Larson last year. What will it take to get it done this time?
“A lot of execution. Las Vegas, and all of these Cup races, are just really long races and there is a lot of things that go on between the green flag and the checkered flag that dictates the outcome of the race,” Bell said.” I’ve sat in this position many times now, and I’ve yet to win the race on Sunday starting from that first position. We’ve come close several times, and this is a great race track for me. I’m optimistic about it and I felt really good in practice. Sometimes that means more than you see in qualifying. I think we have the car to do it, and hopefully, I’m up for the job, our team executes well, and we are able to put it all together.”
How does Logano feel, enjoying this first week of new life after advancing only because Alex Bowman was disqualified last week?
“I think we’re good on the long run,” Logano said. “Our short run speed is not real good, but I think we can make some adjustments to try and equal that out a little bit. For qualifying, we just didn’t have enough grip.”
Rowdy’s prediction
Kyle Busch offered a prediction for who he believes the Championship 4 will be at Phoenix.
“I would say – baring craziness, which we all enjoy chaos, I would say that the race for the final spot is between the No. 45 and the No. 11. The other three are set.”
So Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, William Byron; with the final battle coming down to Tyler Reddick versus Denny Hamlin in his estimation.
Does he enjoy that chaos?
“Not being a part of it.. absolutely not, no,” Busch said. “But I don’t really pay attention to it anyways either, you know. So when stuff does start to go down and happen a little bit – you know, earlier this year in the playoffs, there was a lot that was going on with Watkins Glen, with Atlanta and all that sort of stuff. So I kind of saw that from just doing the TV show. But besides that, I wouldn’t have paid an ounce of attention. I’ve got enough problems.”
Las Vegas starting lineup
- Christopher Bell (P)
- Tyler Reddick (P)
- Alex Bowman
- Denny Hamlin (P)
- Kyle Larson (P)
- Carson Hocevar #
- Ross Chastain
- Ty Gibbs
- William Byron (P)
- Joey Logano (P)
- Austin Cindric
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Austin Dillon
- Zane Smith
- Michael McDowell
- Justin Haley
- Brad Keselowski
- Chase Elliott (P)
- Bubba Wallace
- Kyle Busch
- Noah Gragson
- Chris Buescher
- Daniel Suarez
- Chase Briscoe
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Erik Jones
- Josh Berry
- Jimmie Johnson
- Todd Gilliland
- Harrison Burton
- Ryan Preece
- Daniel Hemric
- Shane Van Gisbergen
- Corey LaJoie
- Cody Ware
- Ryan Blaney (P)