Is JGR ace Christopher Bell starting from rear at Las Vegas Cup race? All you need to know

NASCAR driver Christopher Bell had one of the better qualifying sessions of the year at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway as he qualified P13 for the Pennzoil 400. However, the team had to change the throttle body on Bell’s #20 Toyota after the session, and as a result, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will be starting from the back of the grid.

Christopher Bell goes into the Pennzoil 400 with back-to-back wins in the last three Cup Series races. The JGR driver will be aiming to equal Jimmie Johnson's record of four consecutive wins. However, the change of the throttle body has put a spin on Bell’s plan as this specific part can't be changed after qualifying, and it led to a penalty, which sent the #20 driver to the back of the grid.

Motorsport reporter Bob Pockrass reported the same as he uploaded a tweet on social media platform X. He suggested that both Christopher Bell and John Hunter Nemechek, who qualified P30 will be starting from the back following the change of throttle body.

While it has made things harder for Christopher Bell, the JGR driver won the last three races despite starting outside the Top 10. The 30-year-old started P32 at Ambetter Health 400, P19 at the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix and P11 at the Shriners Children's 500 and managed to win all three races.

The race pace of the Toyota is incredible, yet Bell hasn't made enough ground early enough in the races to score big chunks of stage points. This is why William Byron continues to lead the championship with 165 points (49 stage points), and Bell trails him in P2 with 152 points (26 stage points).

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“We want to focus”: Christopher Bell headstrong on improving qualifying performance

Christopher Bell sat before the media ahead of the 2025 Pennzoil 400 and detailed his plans for improving his qualifying performance as he chases the fourth consecutive win to equal Jimmie Johnson's record. The JGR driver explained how they've managed to convert the poor qualifying into wins but suggested that he'd like to improve on the one-lap pace. He said (via Speedway Digest):

“We've gotten away with our poor qualifying efforts, so far, but yeah, certainly, we want to focus on qualifying, but we've learned, where we qualify doesn't mean nothing for how we are going to run during the race. Qualifying at these intermediates has been our strength. We expect to qualify and practice a lot better here than what we've done the last couple of weeks.”

Bell went well around the Las Vegas Motor Speedway as he took pole position at the 2024 playoff race and finished P2 despite leading the most laps.