Christopher Bell wins third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race in wild finish at Phoenix
from Samuel Stubbs, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com
Christopher Bell dominated the second half of Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway, but his third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory didn’t come without a last-lap battle.
After Ty Gibbs brought out the final caution flag of the race, the field was re-racked for a restart with two laps to go. Alongside Bell on the front row was fellow Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin, while Kyle Larson lurked in third.
Hamlin led at the white flag, but Bell was able to draw even with his teammate as the pair entered turn three. Bell and Hamlin raced door-to-door through the final corner, with Bell barely edging Hamlin in the second-closest Cup Series finish ever at Phoenix.
“Whenever you’re sitting there dreaming it up, that’s about as ugly as it gets,” Bell told Fox Sports. “It was all about who could get clear on the restart. Neither of us could. We were just racing really hard there coming to the line.”
Hamlin, Larson, Josh Berry and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five, with William Byron, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Zane Smith and Chase Elliott completing the top 10.
Other notable finishers include Joey Logano in 13th, Ty Dillon in 16th, Tyler Reddick in 20th, Katherine Legge in 30th and Carson Hocevar in 36th.