Kevin Harvick will lead the field to green at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Here's the starting lineup for Sunday's Pennzoil 400, the third Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of 2019. Sin City is square one for the sport’s new handling package as the sport descends on the 1.5-mile tri-oval of Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Just 38 drivers and teams attempted this race, leaving two open spots on the grid. It’s the second straight week less than 40 cars have shown up to qualify.
Kevin Harvick won the pole for Sunday’s event with 2019 Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin starting alongside. It’s the 20th pole Harvick has won with Stewart-Haas Racing in just a little over five years with the team. By comparison, he won just six poles in his first 13 seasons running for Richard Childress Racing.
1. Kevin Harvick
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Kyle Busch
4. Austin Dillon
5. Daniel Hemric
6. David Ragan
7. Kyle Larson
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
9. Jimmie Johnson
10. Joey Logano
11. Alex Bowman
12. Chase Elliott
13. Ryan Blaney
14. Ty Dillon
15. Paul Menard
16. Michael McDowell
17. Clint Bowyer
18. Erik Jones
19. Brad Keselowski
20. William Byron
21. Bubba Wallace
22. Daniel Suarez
23. Martin Truex Jr.
24. Ryan Preece
25. Aric Almirola
26. Matt DiBenedetto
27. Chris Buescher
28. Kurt Busch
29. Ryan Newman
30. Corey Lajoie
31. Landon Cassill
32. Parker Kligerman (i)
33. Cody Ware
34. B.J. McLeod (i)
35. Matt Tifft
36. Joey Gase (i)
37. Reed Sorenson
38. Ross Chastain (i)
(i) – Ineligible to collect Cup Series points
Failed To Qualify
None
QUALIFYING NOTES
- Ford won its second straight pole of the season. Now, they’ll go for their third straight win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a feat they haven’t accomplished since the first three Cup races here in 1998-2000. Harvick will attempt to become the first driver since Kyle Busch (2009) to win from the pole.
- Denny Hamlin (2nd) has his second straight top 5 start at LVMS, one of eight tracks on the circuit he has never won.
- Rookie Daniel Hemric (5th) had the best qualifying effort of his MENCS career. He was running near the front at Atlanta last Sunday before a flat tire doomed his chances for a top-5 finish.
- David Ragan (6th) has his best starting position since the 2015 regular season finale at Richmond driving for now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing.
- Last week’s winner Brad Keselowski qualified 19th. He has yet to qualify inside the top 15 so far this season.
- Reed Sorenson will make his first MENCS start of the year driving for Spire Motorsports this week. He’ll run the No. 77 Chevrolet as part of a continued partnership with Premium Motorsports.
NASCAR RACE BREAKDOWN
Race: Pennzoil 400
Track: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Date: Sunday, March 3
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
TV: FOX, 3 p.m. ET
Radio: PRN, SIRIUS XM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400 miles (267 laps)
Stage 1: 80 Laps
Stage 2: 80 Laps
Final Stage: 107 Laps
PRE-RACE ANALYSIS
