Christopher Bell’s name does not alliterate well with “magic”, which is unfortunate because he’s quickly becoming the master of the Magic Mile. Bell posted a fast lap of 30.524 seconds, which beat the second best time of teammate Martin Truex, Jr. by 7 thousandths of a second for the pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Bell won last year’s race at New Hampshire, where he came alive late and led the final 42 laps. The year before, he finished second– and was running down eventual winner Aric Almirola in the closing laps before the race was shortened due to darkness. Bell also boasts a perfect 3-for-3 win record in Xfinity Series races at NHMS. He has got the 1 mile flat track dialed in, and the field is going to have to play catch up with him on Sunday.
Bell explained following qualifying why he thinks he’s so good at the Magic Mile.
“I do enjoy it,” said Bell. “It’s a place where your driver technique and your feet and your hands dictate a lot of what the car does, so if you’re a little bit loose, you can kind of change your line around. There’s a bunch of banking transitions and seams. At one point they put PJ1 down that would manipulate your car and now they don’t put the grip down, but there’s still a little bit left. It’s just a place where you can really change how the car is driving, you’re not stuck to one driving style, one line, and it’s a place that you can generally find your way moving forward as long as your car is in the ballpark.”
Bell’s speed will be tough to beat on Sunday, but there are a few other challengers who impressed in the second round of qualifying.
Martin Truex Jr secured the outside pole, just missing Bell’s time. Behind Truex were a group of Fords who could shake things up for tomorrow’s race. Aric Almirola, after winning the pole last week at Atlanta, qualified in third today. 2 years ago, Almirola pulled off a stunning win at this very race amidst a tough season for him and his Stewart-Haas Racing team. With a strong starting position this weekend, a similar feat may be possible for Almirola.
Teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney claimed the final 2 spots in the top 5 with a fast lap from each. Ford putting 3 cars into the top 5 in qualifying could be a sign of better things to come for the storied manufacturer, which only has 2 wins in 2023.
William Byron ended up in a 23XI sandwich in 7th, ahead of Bubba Wallace in 8th and behind Tyler Reddick in 6th. Byron was the only Hendrick Motorsports car to make the second round of qualifying after a frustrating practice session for the Chevrolet powerhouse.
23XI is a team to watch on Sunday after both cars finished in the top 10 last year, and now qualified both of their cars inside the top 10 on Saturday. Wallace finished 3rd in last year’s race; Reddick struggled to a 21st place finish in the same event.
Brad Keselowski followed up a strong finish last week at Atlanta with another good qualifying run for his RFK team. Last year, Keselowski scored a top 10 in this race– one of only 6 all season– and has 2 career wins at NHMS, most recently in 2020.
Rounding out the top 10 is the 8 car of Kyle Busch for Richard Childress Racing. Busch had an eventful day at the track Saturday after he hit the wall early in his practice session. The team issued some minor repairs, and Busch was able to run a few laps before the session ended to ensure that the car was fully functional.
Clearly the damage was insignificant (or the repairs were solid), because Busch made it into the top 5 in his qualifying group, advancing him to the second round. When he hit the track for his second run, however, he did not fare as favorably.
Busch entered turn 1 on his hot lap and lost the back of the car. The Chevrolet Camaro spun around and backed into the outside SAFER barrier, suffering significant damage. Due to Busch making it into the second round, but failing to complete a lap, he has been placed in the 10th starting spot. Busch’s crew is planning on repairing the primary car, in an effort to not lose their starting position.
On the other hand, some surprising players struggled in qualifying. The lack of speed for Hendrick Motorsports is evident in where their drivers not named William Byron qualified for Sunday’s race. Kyle Larson qualified 15th, Chase Elliott 18th, and Alex Bowman could only muster a 25th place starting spot. Alex Bowman was clearly frustrated following his run, but also expressed optimism.
“I do feel like we have potential in our racecar, we just missed the balance there for qualifying,” Bowman said. “So, as bad as we were in practice, I know we can make it a lot better and get it right tomorrow.”
Elliott discussed how much the organization could collaborate to make the cars faster.
“We’re always leaning on each other, but you’re limited as to what you can do once you get here,” said Elliott. “And, often times, problems aren’t solved by just copying somebody else either.”
Larson was perplexed about the performance of his race car.
“I feel really bad out there, but then I look at lap times and I’m comparable to good cars on lap time on the longer run,” Larson said. “So I don’t know, just gotta study a little bit before I overreact on my comments to my crew chief on where I need help, and then maybe we can make the smartest decisions for the race.”
Other surprises include Ty Gibbs, who had a major moment on his qualifying lap and qualified dead last in 36th. Ross Chastain also struggled to put together a consistent lap; he will start Sunday’s race in 31st. Chris Buescher turned in a less-than-ideal time as well and will roll off Sunday in the 26th position.
Sunday’s race, the Crayon 301, will go green at 2:30 Eastern on the USA Network on July 16th.
About Me: Ethan Miller is 17 years old and resides in Pennsylvania. He aspires to become a sports writer following high school, and views writing for Speedway Digest as the next step towards a career in journalism. Ethan currently hosts the QuickPitPodcast with a few fellow NASCAR fans, which can be found on all major podcast platforms.
Twitter: pit_quick
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