NASCAR
Christopher Bell Claims Maiden Bristol Concrete Victory in Night Race
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Joe Gibbs Racing remains the team to beat, now with all three of their contending drivers finding Playoff success. Christopher Bell came in clutch at Bristol, charging from third to the lead over the final four laps. Bell likewise found victory lane for the fourth time this season and first since March. Combined with Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin, Bell capped off a Round of 16 sweep for JGR.
The early laps were largely dominated by another JGR Toyota–Ty Gibbs. Going for his maiden Cup win, the young driver led over 200 laps, and appeared poised for a career night. Gibbs was only a bumper away from a Stage sweep, losing out Stage 1 to Ryan Blaney.
Gibbs’ apparent march to victory lane only unraveled in the closing laps, when the No. 54 missed pit road on lap 435. The error relegated Gibbs to a 10th-place result after costly lost track position. This came not long after the 54 executed a bump and run on Chase Briscoe to retake the top spot.
Gibbs’ misfortunes opened the door for Christopher Bell, who then inherited the lead. Opting to pit late for fresh right side tires, however, sent the 20 back to third for the late sprint. Zane Smith ran Carson Hocevar wide, allowing Bell to scoot by in the bottom lane. Despite a last-corner nudge from a hard charging Brad Keselowski, Bell was not to be denied a late Bristol surge.
“I’ll tell you what, I was nervous on the twos,” Bell said. “I didn’t know if I wanted to be on the bottom or the top, and whenever Brad picked the top didn’t really give me an option. I had to pick the bottom.”
“All night long, I don’t know, old tires just really, really pushed up in the middle of the corners, so I was hoping that those guys on old tires would push up, and they did. They did, and I was able to get by or get underneath them.”
“It wasn’t pretty there at the end, but we got her done. Most importantly, this week has obviously been a very tough week, and there’s a lot on our mind. This one is for Charlie [Kirk].”
“We just know that any week, any given week, it could be us, and it hadn’t been us for a long time. But Bristol, baby, tonight it’s us!”
Behind Bell and Keselowski at the finish, Zane Smith earned a season-best third-place run ahead of Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. Corey Heim impressed in sixth, beating out Carson Hocevar, Alex Bowman, Chase Briscoe, and Ty Gibbs.
Eliminated from the Playoffs after Bristol were Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, and Josh Berry. Three of these four drivers ran into early race issues that hampered their ability at moving onward. The Round of 12 now resets with the dozen contenders back to square one.
Odds are high that Joe Gibbs Racing can continue this impressive run next week. Christopher Bell’s best racetrack is up next–New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The Mobil1 301 goes green Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on USA, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Driver 20 is chasing a third win here and hopes to go back-to-back at The Magic Mile.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credit to Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
