By  Dave Skretta

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Christopher Bell won the pole on Saturday for the third straight NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, giving him the best possible starting position as he tries to advance through the second round of the playoffs.

Bell turned a blistering, balanced lap of 179.336 mph in the pole shootout. That put him on the front row for

Sunday’s race with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs, who was eliminated from the postseason a week ago.

“We showed up with probably the best Kansas car we’ve ever had,” said Bell, who has finished in the top 10 in the

past two races at Kansas but never has turned one of those brilliant starting positions into a win.

“It’s always been a great track for us to qualify at and when we race we’re in that third to seventh range,” Bell said,

“but today was different. It was really good in practice. I was able to drive the car. And we were able to replicate it in qualifying.”

Tyler Reddick, the defending Kansas playoff race winner, will start third alongside Kyle Busch, the only other non-

playoff driver to advance through the first round of qualifying. Reddick held off Denny Hamlin to win in overtime

last fall.