All about strategy: Bell, No. 20 team opt against first pit stall from pole

LAS VEGAS — For the second straight playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell will start from the pole position.

But the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team is making one notable pivot this season: selecting the sixth stall on pit road rather than pit stall number one.

Almost without fail, the polesitter selects the first pit stall — the box nearest pit exit toward Turn 1. That box provides the shortest distance to the scoring line to determine the running order exiting pit road under caution. But each of the last three NASCAR Cup Series races at Las Vegas has been won by the second-place starter — William Byron in the spring of 2023 and Kyle Larson in each of the past two Vegas trips — both of whom selected the sixth stall instead.

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Bell finished second in the October 2023 duel between himself and Larson. He attributed much of that to the race’s final pit stop after a Lap 217 caution. Bell led 61 laps that afternoon and headed the field at the time of the yellow, but ultimately lost two positions on the final stop while Larson exited with the lead. That experience was quickly added to the notebook of Bell and crew chief Adam Stevens.

“In all reality, I think that race came down to that pit stop,” Bell said Saturday. “And Adam and I actually talked about what we were going to do if we were in this position to win the pole and what pit stall we were going to choose. You know, last year I had that number one pit stall and I couldn’t quite accelerate out of it, and I lost a couple positions in the drag race to the camera that last pit stop. So I think if a couple things go differently at the end of that race, the outcome might have been a little bit different.”

But of all pit stalls, what makes the sixth pit stall so attractive for crew chiefs aside from its recent success? The box is the next-closest to pit exit with an opening in front of it, so no team will pit directly in front of the No. 20 Toyota.

Will a pit-stall decision on Saturday factor into the fight for Sunday’s win? The devil may lie in the details.