For the third consecutive week, Christopher Bell will start a NASCAR Cup Series race from pole position.
His streak started at the playoff opener at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, continued last weekend in Kansas Speedway and carried over into qualifying at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Friday night.
Bell set a fast lap of 15.109 seconds (126.997 mph) at the .533-mile track in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
“Having a good starting spot is really, really, really important especially at a short track like Bristol with the PJ1 being down. It’s going to be very fast around the bottom, especially at the start of the race. We put ourselves in good position,” Bell said.
Teammate Denny Hamlin, who’s best lap time was 15.117 seconds (126.93 mph), will start alongside Bell on the front row in his No. 11 Toyota during Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron was third with a 15.187-second lap (126.345 mph) in his No. 24 Chevrolet.
Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell and JGR’s Martin Truex Jr. completed the top five in qualifying.
“You’d like to get the pole, that would help things, but I’m really proud of the speed that we’ve brought all three weeks in the playoffs so far. We just haven’t got the finishes and haven’t executed like we needed to, but we know what tomorrow is. Tomorrow is a must-win for us and you’re gonna have to have track position to do that, so I’m glad we executed today,” McDowell said.
Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace and Corey LaJoie filed into the top 10.
Last week’s winner Tyler Reddick qualified 12th, with a 15.245-second lap (125.864 mph).
The full Cup Series field will take the green for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at 6:30 p.m. (ET) on Saturday. It will be the first cutoff race of the playoffs, with the field going from 16 cars to 12.