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Michael McDowell wins Pennzoil 400 pole award at Las Vegas

JHby:Jonathan Howard•about 10 hours•

Jondean25

Michael McDowell pole Las Vegas NASCAR
Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

We saw this a few times last season! Michael McDowell is on the pole for Las Vegas and Joey Logano is on the front row. McDowell changed NASCAR teams in the offseason from Front Row to Spire Motorsports, but he and crew chief Travis Peterson keep winning poles.

Spire Motorsports now has the first pole award ever for Spire Motorsports. He won six pole awards a year ago and led the Cup Series in that stat. This Las Vegas race is going to be very interesting with fast teams and drivers spread throughout the starting lineup.

Michael McDowell on the pole, Joey Logano on the front row. Ryan Blaney backed his car into a wall in practice. We have a lot of moving parts and variables for Sunday afternoon.

There was a lot of assumption about why Michael McDowell won six poles last year. It was mostly, at least we thought, due to the Ford Mustang’s new body design and prowess on superspeedways.

Travis Peterson and McDowell are proving us wrong. Yes, they won the pole at Gateway last season as well. But to do it at Las Vegas is different. It also shows that the improvements Spire has made, from expanding to three cars to moving on from Corey LaJoie, and other decisions, are beginning to produce results.

Michael McDowell on pole, Christopher Bell starting P13

While Michael McDowell will lead the field to green all eyes will be on Christopher Bell. The 20 team has won three races in a row and are hoping to put up a fourth in a row. No one has done that in the Cup Series since 2007 when Jimmie Johnson was on his way to his second championship.

You couldn’t ask for a better start to the 2025 season if you are Bell. His DNF at Daytona is his only eyesore and to be fair to him, he was running in the front when he was knocked out of the race.

There could be a surprise winner this week. With Bell starting P13, it appears that his car is setup for racing instead of qualifying speed. There are a number of top drivers that didn’t qualify as well as you would expect. So, we should have comers and goers on Sunday.

Michael McDowell is on the pole. Spire Motorsports is on the rise. Do they have a chance on Sunday over the course of 400 miles?