Toyota Rings the 'Bell' in Saturday's NASCAR Cup Action at Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- Toyota rang everyone's bell in Saturday's sessions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, topping the practice charts and claiming the first four starting spots for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race. 

Christopher Bell won the pole for Sunday's race and was fastest in practice. With a pole time of 28.853 seconds, he was the only driver to qualify in the 28-second range. 

"It takes a lot of commitment to run around Las Vegas and, in practice, we were top of the boards for single-lap speeds. I felt like we were going to have a really good shot and when the Camrys started to go and showed the speed, I knew we were going to have a great shot at the pole and we executed well," Bell said.

Last week at Phoenix Raceway, Bell led the most laps and had the best car before he lost to Ryan Blaney. Bell was back on top in all Saturday sessions -- leading the single-lap speeds in practice -- but his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate put him on notice.

"I'm glad that we weren't racing today because if we were racing today, Denny Hamlin was super fast [and probably would've won]," Bell told Roundtable after winning the pole.

Hamlin qualified second and was second-fastest in practice but was fastest on the 10 consecutive lap average chart. 

"We'll go back and see what he was doing better than me and hopefully make the right adjustments," Bell said.

Bell has never won a Cup race at Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Hamlin is looking for his second consecutive Cup win at the track.

Last fall, Hamlin claimed one of the biggest wins of his career and maybe his life -- getting elusive win No. 60 to put him 10th on the all-time wins list and into a chance at racing for his championship, all with his father Dennis watching him. 

After an up-and-down few months where he lost the championship in heartbreak, won concessions from NASCAR in the courtroom and then lost his father, Hamlin is finding his form again. Last week at Phoenix, he was one of three JGR drivers who finished in the top-five -- finishing behind Bell (second) and Ty Gibbs (fourth).

Joe Gibbs Racing is at the head of a big wave of momentum for Toyota, who's three for four on the season. In qualifying, the manufacturer took the top-four starting spots -- thanks to Bell, Hamlin, Gibbs and Bubba Wallace. Not far behind is Tyler Reddick, who starts seventh.

Toyota's speed took a toll on Ford and Chevrolet, whose drivers expressed a range of emotions after searching for speed Saturday. 

Las Vegas marks the first true test of a new body style for Chevrolet. Their drivers appeared confused, even frustrated, with their performance Saturday. 

In qualifying, just two Chevrolets qualified in the top-10 (Kyle Larson, fifth; William Byron, ninth). Minus a relative outlier lap that put Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in third, the best Chevrolet could do on the practice chart was seventh overall and sixth on the 10-lap chart -- both with Byron.

Ford had three drivers qualify in the top-10 with Blaney in sixth and RFK Racing drivers Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher in eighth and 10th. 

Like Chevrolet experienced, practice was much more telling for Ford. While one driver stood out on overall speed (Noah Gragson, sixth) and 10-lap speed (Zane Smith, second), everyone else was 18th or worse overall and 14th or worse on 10-lap speed.

Toyota's Cup intermediate track pace should come as no surprise. In the most recent intermediate race, Hamlin won and beat teammate Chase Briscoe. In the intermediate race before that, Toyota led 235 of 273 laps and had five cars battling for the win. 

Add in how Sunday's race will be run with the same tire compound as those two races -- and you can expect Toyota to take command of Sunday's race at Las Vegas.

Pennzoil 400 NASCAR Cup Series Race at Las Vegas Starting Lineup

Dillon, Allmendinger, Cindric and Byron failed pre-qualifying tech inspection multiple times. As a result, they will lose pit selection for next week at Darlington.

Pennzoil 400 Tune-In: