Christopher Bell Rises to the Occasion and wins at Phoenix

Back in November, Christopher Bell came to Phoenix in search of his first NASCAR Cup Series Championship. But that dream quickly became a nightmare as he would exit out of the race early due to an exploded brake rotor. Four months later, Bell returned looking to make a statement early on in the 2024 season. That he did, as he cruised to his first win of the season and seventh of his career at the track that will once again host the Championship in November.

At a track where Toyota drivers had led a total of 15 laps in four Next-Gen-era races combined going into Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500, but that all changed as Toyota led for a combined 298 of 312 laps. Pole Sitter Denny Hamlin led for 68 laps, Ty Gibbs with 57, Martin Truex Jr. with 55, and the eventual race-winner Bell with 50. Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing also led for 68 laps.

While many were struggling with dirty air, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota Camry was on another level, as he won the race by 5.465 seconds over RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher.

“Man, this one feels really good,” said Bell. “Just a credit to Adam (crew chief Adam Stevens), man. Adam, my engineers… all the mechanics on this thing.”

“You don’t get cars like that very often, as you know. Just super, super proud. Proud to be on this 20 car. This Rheem Camry was amazing today. I feel like we have the capability of running races like this a lot. Hopefully, this is the first of many this year.”

After running up front for most of the race, Denny Hamlin got loose and spun on lap 215, taking him out of contention for a win. This led to his teammate Martin Truex Jr and eight over drivers to stay out, banking on another caution. After the restart, Truex took off with the lead but would have no choice but to eventually pit on lap 272.

It ended up being a great day for RFK Racing, as the team continues to improve after a rebounding 2023 season. Buescher would finish in second and Brad Keselowski ended up in fourth.

“I didn’t quite see the 20 (Bell) there at the end, so I know they were lights-out,” Buescher said after the race. “We have some work to do to get to that point. What thrills me is we were by no means perfect on balance, so we have a lot of room to make this thing better, which is awesome.”

Ty Gibbs would finish third, a career-high, Keselowski was fourth, and defending Champion Ryan Blaney finished fifth. Ross Chastain, who won at Phoenix back in November, was sixth, Martin Truex Jr climbed back to seventh, and Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe, and Tyler Reddick completed the top ten.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads next to the Last Great Coliseum of Bristol Motor Speedway for the return of the spring race on concrete. The Food City 500 will take place on Sunday, March 17th at 3:30 pm EST.