For the second Las Vegas Motor Speedway race in a row, Kevin Harvick will start on the pole via qualifying formula as he leads the NASCAR Cup Series field to green in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400. At the lower series, last week’s NASCAR Xfinity Series winner Myatt Snider will do the same for his series’ Alsco Uniforms 300 on Saturday while Ben Rhodes and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series return after a week off in Friday’s Bucked Up 200.
Cup: Harvick gets Pennzoil 400 pole
After points leader Denny Hamlin finished eleventh in last Sunday’s race at Homestead, the list of drivers with top tens in all three races so far was whittled down, and Harvick is one of them. Harvick, who scored a series-high nine wins in 2020, began his 2021 campaign with a fourth in the Daytona 500, sixth at the Daytona road course, and fifth at Homestead. He also started on the pole for the fall Las Vegas race in 2020 and is seeking his third win at the track.
William Byron won his second career Cup race when he took the checkered flag at Homestead, enabling him to jump sixteen positions in the standings after an abysmal start to the season at Daytona in which he did not finish higher than twenty-sixth. Sunday will be his second front-row start of 2021 after starting second in the 500. In six Cup starts at Vegas, he has one top ten with a seventh in the 2019 fall race, but finished outside the top twenty in the two rounds last year.
Michael McDowell starts fifth as his Cinderella start to the season continues. The fourteen-year Cup driver sits a career-best fourth in points and is the only other driver to have a top ten in all three races, including his Daytona 500 win. At Las Vegas, he has never started in the top ten in fourteen career starts, while an eighteenth in 2017 is his lone top twenty at the Nevada circuit.
The lone driver change from Homestead comes from Rick Ware Racing as Joey Gase takes over the #15 from James Davison and will start thirty-seventh. It will be Gase’s second start of the season after running the 500 in the team’s #53, which Garrett Smithley drove to a thirty-first-place finish last week.
Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
2 | 24 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
3 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
4 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
5 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
7 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
8 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
9 | 48 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
10 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford |
11 | 8 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
13 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
14 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
15 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
16 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
17 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
18 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
19 | 37 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
20 | 41 | Cole Custer | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
21 | 42 | Ross Chastain | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
22 | 99 | Daniel Suárez | Trackhouse Racing Team | Chevrolet |
23 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | 23XI Racing | Toyota |
24 | 14 | Chase Briscoe | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
25 | 77 | Justin Haley* | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
26 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford |
27 | 38 | Anthony Alfredo | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
28 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
29 | 43 | Erik Jones | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet |
30 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
31 | 53 | Garrett Smithley* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
32 | 51 | Cody Ware* | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
33 | 7 | Corey LaJoie | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet |
34 | 78 | B.J. McLeod* | Live Fast Motorsports | Ford |
35 | 52 | Josh Bilicki | Rick Ware Racing | Ford |
36 | 00 | Quin Houff | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet |
37 | 15 | Joey Gase | Rick Ware Racing | Chevrolet |
38 | 66 | Timmy Hill | MBM Motorsports | Ford |
* – Ineligible for Cup points
Xfinity: Snider’s win rewarded with pole
In last Saturday’s Homestead event, Snider won his maiden Xfinity Series race in overtime, which shot him from fifth in points to second behind reigning champion Austin Cindric. It will be Snider’s sixth career front-row start and fifth from the pole; his series debut at Daytona in 2020 also saw him win the pole.
Cindric is one of two drivers to have top-five finishes in all three races so far and will start on the front row for the third straight weekend. Interestingly, his second-place starting spot also continues a pattern in which he either began on the pole or second as he was the pole-sitter at races 1 and 3 and second for 2 and 4.
Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones comprise the second row. Jeb Burton, the other driver with a 100% top-five rate in 2021, starts fifth alongside Kaulig Racing team-mate Justin Haley.
Cup regular Tyler Reddick will start last in his second Xfinity start of the season. With his #03 Our Motorsports car once again excluded from the grid with zero owner points, he took over RSS Racing‘s #23 at Homestead and finished second, but was disqualified after failing post-race inspection; the #23 was officially prepared by Our Motorsports while the entry remained RSS’s. Andy Lally was officially listed in the #03 and is thus recorded as failing to qualify; a road course ringer who has exclusively run on such tracks in the Xfinity Series, the DNQ technically marks his maiden entry in an Xfinity oval race and first in NASCAR’s national series since the 2011 Cup fall race at Phoenix. Lally had also been shut out from the Daytona road course event in Our’s #03 but found a ride with B.J. McLeod Motorsports.
Ronnie Bassett Jr. (#77 Bassett Racing) and Jordan Anderson (#31 Jordan Anderson Racing) continue to be the other DNQs.
Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
1 | 2 | Myatt Snider | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
2 | 22 | Austin Cindric | Team Penske | Ford |
3 | 18 | Daniel Hemric | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
4 | 19 | Brandon Jones | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
5 | 10 | Jeb Burton | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
6 | 11 | Justin Haley | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
7 | 02 | Brett Moffitt* | Our Motorsports | Chevrolet |
8 | 51 | Jeremy Clements | Jeremy Clements Racing | Chevrolet |
9 | 8 | Josh Berry | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
10 | 16 | A.J. Allmendinger | Kaulig Racing | Chevrolet |
11 | 39 | Ryan Sieg | RSS Racing | Ford |
12 | 98 | Riley Herbst | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford |
13 | 1 | Michael Annett | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
14 | 4 | Landon Cassill | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
15 | 17 | J.J. Yeley | Rick Ware Racing | Ford |
16 | 90 | Dexter Bean | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
17 | 36 | Alex Labbé | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
18 | 66 | Timmy Hill | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
19 | 47 | Kyle Weatherman | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
20 | 54 | Ty Dillon | Joe Gibbs Racing | Chevrolet |
21 | 44 | Tommy Joe Martins | Martins Motorsports | Chevrolet |
22 | 20 | Harrison Burton | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
23 | 26 | Santino Ferrucci | Sam Hunt Racing | Toyota |
24 | 92 | Josh Williams | DGM Racing | Chevrolet |
25 | 68 | Brandon Brown | Brandonbilt Motorsports | Chevrolet |
26 | 07 | Joe Graf Jr. | SS-Green Light Racing | Chevrolet |
27 | 48 | Jade Buford | Big Machine Racing | Chevrolet |
28 | 13 | David Starr | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
29 | 61 | Chad Finchum | MBM Motorsports | Toyota |
30 | 0 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
31 | 5 | Matt Mills | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet |
32 | 78 | Jesse Little | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet |
33 | 99 | Stefan Parsons | B.J. McLeod Motorsports | Chevrolet |
34 | 9 | Noah Gragson | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
35 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
36 | 52 | Gray Gaulding | Jimmy Means Racing | Chevrolet |
37 | 7 | Justin Allgaier | JR Motorsports | Chevrolet |
38 | 15 | Colby Howard | JD Motorsports | Chevrolet |
39 | 74 | Bayley Currey | Mike Harmon Racing | Chevrolet |
40 | 23 | Tyler Reddick* | RSS Racing | Chevrolet |
* – Ineligible for Xfinity points
Truck: Rhodes on pole for second straight week amid Camping World-dominated grid
Rhodes enters Vegas as the only Truck driver to win in 2021 after sweeping the two Daytona races to kick off the seaon. For the second straight race, he will start on the pole for his first front-row start at Las Vegas. Rhodes won the 2017 race.
Sheldon Creed, the Daytona RC runner-up, starts second for the second time in 2021 after doing so for the Daytona oval. The defending champion has recorded top tens in all four of his Truck starts in Vegas, battling with Cup regular and the Truck Series’ winningest driver Kyle Busch for much the spring race and finishing second in the fall event.
Driver changes from the road course include David Gilliland returning to his team’s #17 after Riley Herbst drove it (starting fourteenth), rookie Kris Wright coming back to Young’s Motorsports #02 following a substitute role by Kaz Grala (fifteenth), Grant Enfinger in CR7 Motorsports‘ #9 usually piloted by Codie Rohrbaugh (eighteenth), Tyler Hill in the family-owned #56 Hill Motorsports truck that brother Timmy ran to start the year (twenty-fifth), Busch in his #51 that ringer Parker Chase ran at the road course (twenty-ninth), Conor Daly taking over Niece Motorsports‘ #44 from Jett Noland (thirt-sixth), Jesse Iwuji and B.J. McLeod respectively replacing Jason White and Lawless Alan in Reaume Brothers Racing‘s #33 (thirty-seventh) and #34 (thirty-ninth), and Parker Kligerman returning to Henderson Motorsports‘ #75 that Sam Mayer ran on the RC (fortieth). Bret Holmes, the defending ARCA Menards Series champion, will début his family operation at the Truck level has he starts thirty-eighth.
Of the forty entrants, nine will be sporting Camping World sponsorship after a mass endorsement effort by company CEO Marcus Lemonis: Creed, Raphaël Lessard (thirteenth), Enfinger, Dawson Cram (twwenty-third), Anderson (twenty-eighth), Norm Benning (thirty-fifth), Iwuji, McLeod, and Kligerman.
Start | Number | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
1 | 99 | Ben Rhodes | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
2 | 2 | Sheldon Creed | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
3 | 4 | John Hunter Nemechek | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Toyota |
4 | 88 | Matt Crafton | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
5 | 98 | Christian Eckes | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
6 | 38 | Todd Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
7 | 18 | Chandler Smith | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
8 | 19 | Derek Kraus | McAnally-Hilgemann Racing | Toyota |
9 | 52 | Stewart Friesen | Halmar Friesen Racing | Toyota |
10 | 42 | Carson Hocevar | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet |
11 | 13 | Johnny Sauter | ThorSport Racing | Toyota |
12 | 22 | Austin Wayne Self | AM Racing | Chevrolet |
13 | 24 | Raphaël Lessard | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
14 | 17 | David Gilliland | David Gilliland Racing | Ford |
15 | 02 | Kris Wright | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet |
16 | 26 | Tyler Ankrum | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
17 | 45 | Brett Moffitt | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet |
18 | 9 | Grant Enfinger | CR7 Motorsports | Chevrolet |
19 | 25 | Timothy Peters | Rackley WAR | Chevrolet |
20 | 12 | Tate Fogleman | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet |
21 | 23 | Chase Purdy | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
22 | 15 | Tanner Gray | David Gilliland Racing | Ford |
23 | 41 | Dawson Cram | Cram Racing Enterprises | Chevrolet |
24 | 40 | Ryan Truex | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet |
25 | 56 | Tyler Hill | Hill Motorsports | Chevrolet |
26 | 30 | Danny Bohn | On Point Motorsports | Toyota |
27 | 04 | Cory Roper | Roper Racing | Ford |
28 | 3 | Jordan Anderson* | Jordan Anderson Racing | Chevrolet |
29 | 51 | Kyle Busch* | Kyle Busch Motorsports | Toyota |
30 | 1 | Hailie Deegan | David Gilliland Racing | Ford |
31 | 16 | Austin Hill | Hattori Racing Enterprises | Toyota |
32 | 21 | Zane Smith | GMS Racing | Chevrolet |
33 | 20 | Spencer Boyd | Young’s Motorsports | Chevrolet |
34 | 10 | Jennifer Jo Cobb | Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing | Chevrolet |
35 | 6 | Norm Benning | Norm Benning Racing | Chevrolet |
36 | 44 | Conor Daly | Niece Motorsports | Chevrolet |
37 | 33 | Jesse Iwuji | Reaume Brothers Racing | Chevrolet |
38 | 32 | Bret Holmes | Bret Holmes Racing | Chevrolet |
39 | 34 | B.J. McLeod* | Reaume Brothers Racing | Toyota |
40 | 75 | Parker Kligerman | Henderson Motorsports | Chevrolet |
* – Ineligible for Truck points