Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell has won the pole position for the AdventHealth 400 race at Kansas Speedway. Bell clocked the fastest lap time of 29.491 out of the 10 entries that made it into the final round. This was his 11th career pole and the first of this season. After a tough few weeks, ending the races involved in crashes, the JGR star will be hoping to regain his confidence with this pole win. Joining him on the front row will be Ross Chastain.

In the first qualifying round of Group A, Chase Elliott’s #9 Chevy Camaro car was the quickest of the bunch. SHR’s Chase Briscoe also showed some real speed but proved to be just second-best to the HMS star. A similar theme unfolded in Group B, as Kyle Larson once again topped the charts with his run. Meanwhile, William Byron’s struggles with Dover continued as he crashed into the wall during his group run.

Christopher Bell is hoping for a clean finish at Kansas

After seven races since the start of 2024, Bell was seen as a genuine contender for the championship. With three top 5 finishes along with the win at Phoenix, he looked in shape and was building steam for his title charge. But all his good work started to fall apart with his disappointment at COTA. To add to his misery, he had back-to-back DNF finishes in both races at Talladega and Dover.

So despite having won the pole for the Kansas race, the primary objective for the No. 20 JGR team is to finish the race and get some points home. “So we’ve executed qualifying couple of times now here at Kansas and we’re yet to win a race so. Before we say we’re gonna go out there and win tomorrow, I just want to finish tomorrow. We just got to see the checkered flag.” he said on the pit road via FOX.

While most drivers were hesitant to put their pedal to the metal to get the best starting position, Bell was enjoying pushing his car to the very edge. “Yeah, I mean qualifying on intermediates has been really really good for this whole team. Ever since the introduction of the NextGen car. I can tell you right now I live for those moments where its right on the verge of holding your foot down, and pretty sure we talked before qualifying how I said was perplexed about the amount of off-throttle time they had, and there was more than I was expecting.” Bell added.

However, we all know that qualifying is not the final result. Therefore, a bunch of drivers who couldn’t have a good run today might turn up for the main event.

Top contenders to win the AventHealth 400 race

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Off the top, Denny Hamlin leads the charge as the clear favorite to win the race. He drove the #11 car into victory lane last season at the mile-and-a-half asphalt track. While also ending with a runner-up finish in the fall event. Prior to the qualifying rounds, he admitted to improving his lap runs for a better starting position. But given, that he has turned up during the race and got the desired finishes, he would care little about today’s qualifying attempt.

Making a surprise entry, we have Ryan Blaney on this list. Out of all the Ford cars, the No. 12 Penske Mustang is the closest thing to compete against JGR and HMS rides. Evidently, it was the mile-and-half races late in the season at Homestead and Phoenix that helped Blaney win his maiden championship. Throughout the season, he has been consistent with his results, bagging four top 5 finishes. So while the Fords may not seem to be the favorites, watch out for Blaney, he sure can hand them the first win in 2024.

Kyle Larson from the HMS camp is by default on any win prediction list; he’s that good. Despite just a single win, he still holds the number one spot in the standings. Moreover, he sure knows how to run for wins at intermediate race tracks. Another big storyline with him is his rivalry with Hamlin. Last year, the JGR driver did him dirty on the final lap of the race to take the victory, and he pulled off an aero-blocking move last weekend to keep him at bay. So, Larson has multiple agendas on his mind and he sure won’t be pulling any punches in tomorrow’s race.