Christopher Bell secures Cook Out 400 pole
Christopher Bell will lead the field to the green flag for the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway Sunday.
With a lap time of 19.718 seconds (96.034 MPH), Bell posted the fastest lap in qualifying Saturday to earn his first pole of 2025 and the 14th of his career.
“That was definitely the best qualifying session I’ve ever felt at Martinsville,” Bell said. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but regardless, starting up front helps.”
Chase Elliott’s lap time of 19.735 seconds (95.915 MPH) was good enough to put the Hendrick Motorsports driver on the outside front row, his highest start of the year.
“Solid day, proud of the effort,” Elliott said.
Alex Bowman, last week’s winner Kyle Larson, and Chris Buescher rounded out the Top-5 qualifiers.
Last year’s spring Martinsville winner, William Byron, qualified 10th.
The fall Martinsville winner, Ryan Blaney, qualified 32nd.
The Cook Out 400 is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET. Sunday (FS1, MRN).
Cook Out 400 Starting Lineup
1. Christopher Bell
2. Chase Elliott
3. Alex Bowman
4. Kyle Larson
5. Chris Buescher
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Joey Logano
8. Bubba Wallace
9. Tyler Reddick
10. William Byron
11. Chase Briscoe
12. Kyle Busch
13. Ty Gibbs
14. Josh Berry
15. Michael McDowell
16. John Hunter Nemechek
17. Ross Chastain
18. Austin Dillon
19. Zane Smith
20. Austin Cindric
21. Ryan Preece
22. Cole Custer
23. A.J. Allmendinger
24. Noah Gragson
25. Todd Gilliland
26. Daniel Suarez
27. Brad Keselowski
28. Ty Dillon
29. Carson Hocevar
30. Justin Haley
31. Erik Jones
32. Ryan Blaney
33. Shane Van Gisbergen
34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
35. Riley Herbst
36. Cody Ware
37. Casey Mears
38. Burt Myers
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.