Bell, who was fastest in Group B qualifying in Round 1, was the last of 10 cars to make an attempt in Round 2 at jumped to the top with an average speed of 179.575 mph – the fastest lap recorded all day.
It’s the third pole of Bell’s career and all coming this season. So far, his best finish after starting on pole has been 10th at Las Vegas, a similar track to Kansas.
“These guys are just doing a really good job on this No. 20 car – they have been all year long,” Bell said. “I’m really proud of the effort.
“We have an excellent Camry here this weekend so hopefully we can keep it up tomorrow.”
In four career starts at Kansas, Bell’s best finish was eighth last fall.
Tyler Reddick ended up second-fastest (178.855 mph) and Kyle Larson was third (178.772 mph). Austin Cindric and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five.
Completing the top-10 starters in Sunday’s race are Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney.
Round 1 / Group B
Bell was the last in session to make a qualifying attempt and ended up fastest with an average speed of 179.527 mph.
Bowman was second-fastest (177.983 mph) and Kurt Busch, who was fastest in Saturday’s practice, ended up third (177.889 mph). Almirola and Cindric rounded out the top-five and also advanced to the final round.
Among those who missed the cut were Ross Chastain, William Byron and Chase Briscoe.
Joey Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. did not make qualifying attempts as their teams were still working on their respective cars following incidents in practice.
Round 1 / Group A
Reddick went out late and ended up with the fastest average lap speed (177.702 mph).
Truex was second (177.264 mph) and Kyle Busch was third (177.072 mph). Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top-five and advanced to Round 2.
Among those failing to move on were Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez.
Chris Buescher did not make a qualifying attempt as his team was still working on his car after an accident in practice.
