McDowell grabs Spire's first ever Cup Series pole in Vegas

Yesterday at 04:12 PM

Michael McDowell earned Spire Motorsports its first NASCAR Cup Series pole Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

McDowell was fastest in qualifying with a lap of 186.961mph (28.883s). It’s his seventh career pole and his first in Las Vegas. All of McDowell's poles have come since the start of the 2024 season.

"I'm just so proud of all the men and women at Spire Motorsports," McDowell told Prime. "We had three cars in the top 10 last week and then to come to a mile-and-a-half … and have this much speed and sit on the pole is just a testament to all the hard work everybody at Spire . It gives us great pit stall selection and a great opportunity to lead some laps and get some stage points, and put ourselves in position tomorrow.

"No matter what, when you're running wide open at Vegas, it's scary. It really is. I know it doesn't look like much, but it's pretty wild out there, so I'm really thankful, and great job, everybody. We'll go race tomorrow."

Joey Logano qualified second and will share the front row with McDowell. Logano's fastest lap was 186.864mph.

Austin Cindric qualified third at 186.793mph, Kyle Busch fourth at 186.638mph and Erik Jones fifth at 186.632mph.

Alex Bowman will start sixth after a 186.619mph lap, Josh Berry seventh (186.599mph), William Byron eighth (186.567mph), Zane Smith ninth (186.554mph) and Kyle Larson tenth (186.528mph).

Larson is the defending winner in Las Vegas.

Christopher Bell qualified 13th. Bell is looking to become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup Series races.

Denny Hamlin qualified 15th, Chase Elliott 16th, Ross Chastain 19th, Bubba Wallace 20th, Chase Briscoe 24th, Brad Keselowski 27th and Ty Gibbs 29th.

Ryan Blaney was the only driver who did not make a qualifying lap. Blaney's team is repairing his primary car after a blown tire in practice resulted in a spin and hit off the Turn 2 wall with the rear bumper. Blaney will start last, 36th.

NEXT: The Pennzoil 400 at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday.