Christopher Bell nipped Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in a two-lap sprint at Phoenix Raceway, notching his third straight win Sunday on the NASCAR Cup Sequence’ Shriners Youngsters’s 500 in Avondale, Ariz.
A drive all day in his No. 20 Toyota, Bell turned the primary driver to win three consecutive races since Kyle Larson received at Charlotte, Texas and Kansas in October 2021 on the way in which to his lone Cup title.
After Thirteenth-place Ty Gibbs hit the wall for the tenth warning interval, Bell restarted beside Hamlin and barely held off the No. 11 Toyota over two laps, topping it by 0.049 seconds for Bell’s twelfth profession victory.
Larson, Josh Berry and Chris Buescher accomplished the highest 5.
Shortly after polesitter William Byron began the 312-lap race, last-place starter Katherine Legge, the primary girl to compete in a Cup race in over seven years, spun by herself off Flip 2 on Lap 4 for the primary warning however ultimately completed thirtieth.
Chief Joey Logano obtained caught making ready to chop the nook of Flip 1 on a restart and dipped beneath the start-finish line, sending the No. 22 Ford practically 22 seconds again within the discipline after serving a subsequent penalty.
With Logano out of the image, Byron raced off and led at Lap 60 when Stage 1 ended. Tyler Reddick and Ryan Preece trailed him, with Preece having taken the softer, grippier “choice” tires to maneuver up from thirty third into third.
Austin Cindric made the identical tire choice to start out Stage 2, and the No. 2 Ford moved ahead with the additional grip previous chief Byron on Lap 89. Justin Haley’s No. 7 Chevrolet additionally entered the highest 5 simply earlier than Michael McDowell’s No. 71 Chevy minimize a right-rear tire to create the fourth warning.
The primary massive wreck occurred on Lap 99 on the again straightaway when Haley, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar and Gibbs went four-wide exiting Flip 2 in an incident involving roughly 10 automobiles.
On the softer tires, Logano diced via the sector and grabbed the purpose from Bell on Lap 130 of the second section as Bell and Bryon slotted behind, however the tires’ fall-off allowed the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to regain the highest spot on Lap 178 and win Stage 2. Logano and Byron had been second and third, respectively.
Legge introduced out the seventh warning by spinning after which getting T-boned by Daniel Suarez’s No. 99 with 97 to go.
