Lineup: Michael McDowell wins pole for Pennzoil 400
LAS VEGAS — Michael McDowell rocketed to the pole position for the Pennzoil 400 Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning the first NASCAR Cup Series pole for Spire Motorsports.
McDowell posted a lap time of 28.883 seconds (186.961 MPH) in qualifying to score his first pole of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season and the seventh of his career.
“It’s great, it’s a lot of fun to come here and have a shot of being on the pole and executing perfectly,” McDowell said.
McDowell is now tied for 82nd in NASCAR Cup Series poles with Ward Burton, Morgan Shepherd and Bob Welborn.
Defending series champion and most-recent Las Vegas winner Joey Logano will start on the outside pole, his second front row start of the season (Phoenix last week).
Austin Cindric, Kyle Busch and Erik Jones rounded out the Top-5 starters.
Christopher Bell, the winner of the last three Cup Series races, will start 13th.
Ryan Blaney, who hit the outside Turn 2 retaining wall in practice, did not post a timed lap in qualifying and will start 36th.
Pennzoil 400 Starting Lineup:
1. Michael McDowell
2. Joey Logano
3. Austin Cindric
4. Kyle Busch
5. Erik Jones
6. Alex Bowman
7. Josh Berry
8. William Byron
9. Zane Smith
10. Kyle Larson
11. Chris Buescher
12. Ryan Preece
13. Christopher Bell
14. Tyler Reddick
15. Denny Hamlin
16. Chase Elliott
17. Ty Dillon
18. A.J. Allmendinger
19. Ross Chastain
20. Bubba Wallace
21. Noah Gragson
22. Austin Dillon
23. Daniel Suarez
24. Chase Briscoe
25. Carson Hocevar
26. Cole Custer
27. Brad Keselowski
28. Shane Van Gisbergen
29. Ty Gibbs
30. John Hunter Nemechek
31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
32. Todd Gilliland
33. Justin Haley
34. Riley Herbst
35. Cody Ware
36. Ryan Blaney
The Pennzoil 400 is scheduled for Sunday, March 16 at 3:30 p.m. ET (TV: FS1 Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90).
Categories
Discover more from The Racing Experts
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
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.