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Bell surprises himself with Cup Series pole at Martinsville
Christopher Bell will lead the field to the green flag Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Bell won the pole for the Cook Out 400 with a lap of 96.034mph (19.718s). It's his first pole on the Virginia short track and his first of the season. Furthermore, it’s the first time in 11 starts at Martinsville that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will start inside the top five.
“I was kind of down in the dumps after practice, but that was definitely the best qualifying session I’ve ever felt out of my car here at Martinsville,” Bell told Prime. “It was just easy ... I’ve been really good at qualifying in the 20s, and I went out there and the car had so much grip. It cut a really good lap. I’m really proud of everyone on this [No.] 20 team; they’ve been working hard to improve our Martinsville package.
“We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but regardless, starting up front is going to be a huge help.”
Chase Elliott will join Bell on the front row with a lap of 95.951mph.
Alex Bowman wound up third at 95.937mph, Kyle Larson fourth at 95.854mph and Denny Hamlin completed the top five at 95.840mph.
Chris Buescher qualified sixth at 95.840mph, Joey Logano seventh at 95.820mph, Bubba Wallace eighth at 95.801mph, Tyler Reddick ninth at 95.733mph and William Byron 10th at 95.723mph.
Byron is the defending winner at Martinsville. Hendrick Motorsports finished 1-2-3 in this event last year.
Chase Briscoe qualified 11th, Kyle Busch 12th, Ty Gibbs 13th, Josh Berry 14th, Michael McDowell 15th, Ross Chastain 17th, Austin Cindric 20th and Ryan Preece 21st.
Brad Keselowski ended his lap mired in 27th. Ryan Blaney, who has won the last two fall races at Martinsville, qualified 32nd.
NEXT: The Cook Out 400 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.
Kelly Crandall
Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.
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