(Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

NASCAR Starting Lineup: Qualifying Results for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Thomas Carelli | Last updated Mar 14, 2026 4:29 PM ET

The NASCAR Cup Series took the track this afternoon to qualify for the Pennzoil 400. The track tends to favor the best drivers, with historical best finishers being Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin, among others. That is exactly what the qualifying session saw today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The results show us one thing very clearly — Toyota is shooting for the moon. Toyota commands five of the top-7 spots, all being of that Joe Gibbs Racing-23XI Racing partnership. Christopher Bell jumped ahead of Denny Hamlin for pole position as Ty Gibbs bears down. Good luck to Chevrolet and Ford.

Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Qualifying Results


Starting Position	Driver	Team
1	Christopher Bell	20
2	Denny Hamlin	11
3	Ty Gibbs	54
4	Bubba Wallace	23
5	Kyle Larson	5
6	Ryan Blaney	12
7	Tyler Reddick	45
8	Ryan Preece	60
9	William Byron	24
10	Chris Buescher	17
11	Austin Dillon	3
12	Zane Smith	38
13	Daniel Suarez	7
14	Erik Jones	43
15	Chase Elliott	9
16	Shane van Gisbergen	97
17	Ross Chastain	1
18	Chase Briscoe	19
19	Carson Hocevar	77
20	Riley Herbst	35
21	Justin Allgaier	48
22	Joey Logano	22
23	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	47
24	Kyle Busch	8
25	Connor Zilisch	88
26	John Hunter Nemechek	42
27	Todd Gilliland	34
28	Brad Keselowski	6
29	AJ Allmendinger	16
30	Michael McDowell	71
31	Austin Cindric	2
32	Josh Berry	21
33	Cody Ware	51
34	Noah Gragson	4
35	Cole Custer	41
36	Ty Dillon	10

Great Qualifying Results

Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Interstate Batteries Toyota, practices for the NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

Christopher Bell follows up his strong second-place finish last week in Phoenix by earning pole position at Las Vegas. He will be a sure-fire threat to win this race as the Toyotas look like rocket ships.

Denny Hamlin won at Las Vegas last fall. Of course, he will be a favorite to win from second place on the grid.

Ty Gibbs looks for a third-straight strong week, earning third place in qualifying. He is among our Fantasy NASCAR longshots of the week.

Bad Qualifying Results

Austin Cindric remains the clear worst car in Team Penske. The No. 2 will start the Pennzoil 400 from 31st place, and they will hope to even take a peek at a top-10 finish.

Brad Keselowski was another selection of ours pre-week; however, the RFK Racing No. 6 Ford comes in 25th place, thus much less likely to sniff victory lane.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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