Qualifying results shocker, starting grid for Las Vegas

Qualifying has come and gone at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which now slips into race mode as NASCAR’s Xfinity Series prepares for its 300-mile race Saturday afternoon, shortly after 4:30 Eastern.

Michael McDowell, who’s become accustomed to winning poles on plate-race tracks, won one for a non-plate race. His average speed of 186.961 mph was a tick faster than Joey Logano. How close was it? McDowell’s trip around the 1.5-mile oval took 28.883 seconds, a hundredth of a second better than Logano.

McDowell is in his first season driving the No. 71 Chevy for Spire Motorsports.

“I’m so proud of all the men and women at Spire motorsports,” McDowell said. “Really proud of everybody.”

Does the winning pole effort bode well? It’s always nice to be fast, but in terms of riding that speed all the way to Victory Lane in Vegas, consider this: The pole winner’s most recent Las Vegas win came in 2009, when Kyle Busch won the pole at nearly 186 mph and, the next day, beat Clint Bowyer to the checkers by just under a half-second.

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For the first time through five weeks of the 2025 season, the bare minimum of 36 cars are entered for Vegas — all of the chartered teams and no “open,” unchartered entries. Last season, eight of the 36 races featured the minimum 36 cars, while six started the maximum of 40.

Lineup for NASCAR’s Pennzoil 400 in Las Vegas

1. Michael McDowell, No. 71
2. Joey Logano, No. 22
3. Austin Cindric, No. 71
4. Kyle Busch, No. 8
5. Erik Jones, No. 43
6. Alex Bowman, No. 48
7. Josh Berry, No. 21
8. William Byron, No. 24
9. Zane Smith, No. 38
10. Kyle Larson, No. 5
11. Chris Buescher, No. 17
12. Ryan Preece, No. 60
13. Christopher Bell, No. 20
14. Tyler Reddick, No. 45
15. Denny Hamlin, No. 11
16. Chase Elliott, No. 9
17. Ty Dillon, No. 10 
18. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16
19. Ross Chastain, No. 1 
20. Bubba Wallace, No. 23
21. Noah Gragson, No. 4
22. Austin Dillon, No. 3
23. Daniel Suarez, No. 99
24. Chase Briscoe, No. 19
25. Carson Hocevar, No. 77
26. Cole Custer, No. 41
27. Brad Keselowski, No. 6
28. Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88
29. Ty Gibbs, No. 54
30. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42
31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47
32. Todd Gilliland, No. 34
33. Justin Haley, No. 7
34. Riley Herbst, No. 35
35. Cody Ware, No. 51
36. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 (did not attempt qualifying lap)

NASCAR TV listings from Vegas for Saturday, Sunday

Saturday: Xfinity Series race, 4:30 p.m. (CW).

Sunday: Cup Series race, 3:30 p.m (Fox Sports 1).