Bell, Truex earn front-row spots at Talladega for Joe Gibbs Racing
Christopher Bell won the pole at Talladega Superspeedway by turning the fastest lap as the final driver to qualify Saturday.
Bell bumped his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. from the top spot with a lap at 180.928 mph in his Toyota. Truex qualified second at 180.652 mph to give JGR the front row for Sunday's race.
JGR is coming off a win last Sunday with Kyle Busch at Bristol.
Daniel Hemric qualified third for Kaulig Racing in a Chevrolet and was followed by Daniel Suárez of Trackhouse Racing, also in a Chevrolet.
Reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson qualified fifth in a Chevrolet from Hendrick Motorsports and was followed by Kurt Busch of 23XI Racing in a Toyota. Denny Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI but driver for
JGR, qualified seventh as Toyota grabbed four of the top seven starting spots.
William Byron qualified eighth for Hendrick and was followed by Bubba Wallace in a Toyota and Tyler Reddick in a Chevrolet from Richard Childress Racing.
Joey Logano was the top qualifying Ford driver at 13th for Team Penske.
Defending race winner Brad Keselowski qualified 15th in a Ford for RFK Racing. Keselowski is the winningest driver in the field with six victories at the track and Ford was the most organized manufacturer in the Daytona 500, where Ford rookie driver Austin Cindric won in February.
For Bell, it was the second pole of his Cup career and gave JGR its first lockout of the front row at Talladega. Bell's best finish at Talladega was fifth last fall.
“I’m just very thankful to be in the position I am driving for Joe Gibbs Racing,’’ said Bell, who admitted that gusts of winds Saturday at Talladega ”didn’t hurt" his qualifying attempt.
XFINITY SERIES
Noah Gragson held off Jeffrey Earnhardt in triple overtime to win the Xfinity Series race at Talladega for his second victory of the season.
Gragson restarted fourth on the outside of the second row but inherited the lead when JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier ran out of gas and pulled out of traffic. Gragson had to work the No. 9 Chevrolet all over the wide Alabama superspeedway to hold off traffic and deny Earnhardt his first career victory.
Earnhardt, the grandson of the late Dale Earnhardt, started from the pole in the No. 3 Chevrolet. His runner-up finish was a career-best.
AJ Allmendinger finished third for Kaulig Racing.
FORMULA ONE
Max Verstappen overtook Formula One leader Charles Leclerc on the penultimate lap to win the sprint race at the EmiliaRomagna Grand Prix on Saturday in Imola, Italy, and reignite his season.
Verstappen started the sprint in pole position after finishing first in Friday’s qualifying, but the Red Bull driver was overtaken by Leclerc’s Ferrari as soon as the lights went out, much to the delight of the “tifosi.”
But Verstappen doggedly pursued Leclerc and swept around the outside of the Ferrari into Tamburello then stormed away to secure the victory and top spot on the grid for Sunday’s grand prix.
He finished 2.975 seconds ahead of Leclerc and 4.721 ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez.
“The start was very bad. I don’t know exactly what happened or why it was so bad but after that we had to stay calm," Verstappen said. "Initially, it looked like Charles had more pace but I think he ran out of tires and we could close the gap and make the move.”
Verstappen's one point for the sprint meant he trailed Leclerc by 45. However, Leclerc actually extended his overall lead. He was 40 points ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz Jr., who moved above Mercedes driver George Russell into second in the standings.
“It’s still a front row start,” Leclerc said. “We struggled with the tires at the end, so we need to analyze that for tomorrow.”
Sainz started the sprint in 10th after a crash in Friday’s incident-packed qualifying session but finished fourth, just ahead of McLaren duo Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciar- do.
Valtteri Bottas, Kevin Magnussen, Fernando Alonso and Mick Schumacher rounded out the top 10 of the grid.
Seven-time world cham- pion Lewis Hamilton will start in 14th as Mercedes' miserable weekend continued.
“We haven’t got it right this year but everyone is working hard as they can to correct it,” Hamilton said. “We stick together, we try to motivate everyone.
“We are obviously not fighting for the champion- ship but we are fighting to understand the car and improve and progress through the year. That’s all we can hope for right now.”