HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Christopher Bell rallied from a frustrating race start to lead the final 16 laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway to earn a second straight appearance into the Championship 4.
Bell, who only made his first appearance inside the top five on track with less than 50 laps remaining, got around a pair of the day’s front runners in the final laps to blaze to the lead in the No. 20 JGR Toyota and claim an automatic championship admission ticket. It’s the 28-year-old Oklahoma native’s second win of the season – sixth of his career – and the first of the season’s eight Playoff races to date.
Last year Bell pulled off a “walk off” victory in the regular season finale at Martinsville Speedway to claim his first NCS championship bid, ultimately finishing third in the title run. Bell now joins last week’s winner, Kyle Larson, as the only two Playoff drivers set for the title run with one race remaining to decide the other two.
Bell led fellow Playoff driver Ryan Blaney to the Homestead checkered flag by a 1.651-second margin, just ahead of Playoff drivers Tyler Reddick in third and William Byron in fourth. A.J. Allmendinger followed in fifth.
“I’ve got the best team behind me, honestly I don’t know (how we did it), that race was a whirlwind,” Bell said. “I was about ready to throw the towel in during that second stage, I got really frustrated. But (crew chief) Adam Stevens kept after it and gave me what I needed. Whenever we got some clean air this thing was really good.
“I cannot say how proud I am to be here with our partners, driving these Toyota Camrys. Thank you to everyone who supported me. This is better than a dream come true.”
Although disappointed to not secure the win after leading 53 laps, Blaney said, “We were trying, we just needed laps.
“The long run car was really good. I just couldn’t fire off for 10 laps or so. I think the track cooling off (during the red flag) helped those guys. I think we were better in the hotter, sliker conditions when fire off speed didn’t matter as much and it fell off quicker. That played into our benefit.”
“We ran out of laps a little bit,’’ he added. “I am proud of the effort. It was a really good day, we just got beat a little bit there at the end.”
It was certainly the cap to a thrilling final 40 laps of competition on a sunny south Florida afternoon.
In a matter of five minutes during those closing laps, Bell took the race lead and two of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates also in the Playoffs – Denny Hamlin and regular season champion Martin Truex, Jr. – fell out the race with major problems. Hamlin’s No. 11 JGR Toyota slammed into the turn 1 wall. And as the field slowed for that caution period, Truex turned down pit road and told the team his car “might be blowing up.’’
As Hamlin sat on pit wall, disappointed and speaking with his crew, Truex turned the engine off and the crew pushed his No. 19 JGR Toyota it into the garage. Both Playoff drivers were done for the day and dropping below the crucial top-four threshold that will advance to the November 5 Championship race in Phoenix. Truex was scored 29th and Hamlin, 30th.
All of it makes for an even more intense race at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway next week that will formally set the four-driver NASCAR Cup Series championship field.
“We tried and it just didn’t work out,” a disappointed Hamlin said.
“It shows you how hard our sport is, that’s two cars and we had been up front,” JGR team owner Joe Gibbs said. “It also shows you in sports – particularly in ours with that 20-car (Bell) – it shows never to stop fighting.”
With only that Martinsville race remaining, Byron now sits 30 points ahead of the championship cut-off line with Blaney in fourth place – 10 points up on Reddick. Truex and Hamlin are now both 17 points below the cut-off line.
Among the eight Playoff drivers, Chris Buescher – a three-race winner this season – struggled the most, going two laps down midway through the second stage and never cracking the top 20. He’s now in eighth place, 43 points back with a 21st place finish Sunday and will need to win at Martinsville to advance to his first Championship 4.
One of the more unusual incidents of the entire season – let alone the Playoffs – happened during a green flag pit stop and involved Blaney and Larson, who were running first and second at the time with 53 laps remaining.
As their two cars approached pit road, Blaney slowed significantly, and Larson was still going faster directly behind him. While trying to avoid ramming into the back of Blaney’s Ford, Larson turned his No. 5 Chevy to the right and went full-on into the sand-filled protective barriers at pit entrance, causing them to explode with sand.
It caused enough damage on Larson’s car that he had to retire it. Blaney was able to finish his pit stop and make his way back on track. He reassumed the lead when the rest of the cars pit following a nearly 13-minute red flag period.
“I need to look at data,” said an apologetic Larson, who finished 34th despite leading a race best 96 of the 267 laps. “I knew where the yellow line was but on the replay it looked like I missed it by a lot. So I need to look at data. I knew where the yellow line was and I was under control getting there and then he just slowed down, I locked the brakes, clipped him and hit the barrels.
“I’m upset with myself more than anything. Whether he got to pit road speed sooner than the yellow line or not, I could have just done a little better job.
“I hope they’re able to recover and he can get a good finish or the win and get the finish he (Blaney) deserves. Just a bummer. I thought we had a great car today and just made a mistake.”
“All I know is I got hit in the bumper,” said Blaney, who went on to finish second. “I don’t think it hurt (the car) at all. I didn’t even know what happened until I saw him in my mirror. I don’t look at that stuff.”
Bubba Wallace, Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, and Austin Dillon rounded out the top 10.
Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott spent most of the day running outside of the top 10. He crossed the line in 15th place.
NASCAR Cup Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
4EVER 400 – October 22, 2023
1. (13) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 267.
2. (10) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 267.
3. (3) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 267.
4. (7) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 267.
5. (25) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 267.
6. (2) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.
7. (9) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 267.
8. (36) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.
9. (30) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267.
10. (6) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.
11. (22) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 267.
12. (26) Austin Cindric, Ford, 267.
13. (29) Ryan Preece, Ford, 267.
14. (19) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 267.
15. (16) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 267.
16. (14) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.
17. (21) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 267.
18. (18) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.
19. (12) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.
20. (20) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 267.
21. (17) Chris Buescher (P), Ford, 267.
22. (15) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.
23. (27) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 267.
24. (33) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.
25. (32) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 266.
26. (34) Ryan Newman(i), Ford, 265.
27. (23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 263.
28. (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 262.
29. (1) Martin Truex, Jr. (P), Toyota, Engine, 237.
30. (11) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, Accident, 236.
31. (8) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 221.
32. (24) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 218.
33. (31) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, Accident, 218.
34. (5) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 214.
35. (35) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 201.
36. (28) Harrison Burton, Ford, Overheating, 165.
Average Speed: 125.221 mph.
Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 11 Mins, 54 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.651 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 5 for 35 laps.
Lead Changes: 25 among 9 drivers.
Lap Leaders: M. Truex Jr. (P) 1;B. Wallace 2-10;M. Truex Jr. (P) 11-19;W. Byron (P) 20-32;T. Reddick (P) 33;D. Hamlin (P) 34-40;B. Keselowski 41-53;K. Larson (P) 54-80;B. Keselowski 81;K. Larson (P) 82-114;B. Keselowski 115;D. Hamlin (P) 116-125;K. Larson (P) 126-161;R. Blaney (P) 162-167;B. Keselowski 168;R. Blaney (P) 169-173;W. Byron (P) 174;R. Blaney (P) 175-212;D. Hamlin (P) 213-218;R. Blaney (P) 219-221;D. Hamlin (P) 222-229;C. Bell (P) 230-239;W. Byron (P) 240-242;R. Blaney (P) 243;W. Byron (P) 244-251;C. Bell (P) 252-267.
Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Kyle Larson (P) 3 times for 96 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 5 times for 53 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 4 times for 31 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 2 times for 26 laps; William Byron (P) 4 times for 25 laps; Brad Keselowski 4 times for 16 laps; Martin Truex Jr. (P) 2 times for 10 laps; Bubba Wallace 1 time for 9 laps; Tyler Reddick (P) 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,6,12,24,19,11,45,3,20,54
Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,24,5,11,6,19,45,54,3,22
Playoff Standings: 1. Kyle Larson* – 4105 (4 Wins); 2. Christopher Bell* – 4110 (2 Wins); 3. William Byron – 4126 (6 Wins); 4. Ryan Blaney – 4106 (2 Wins); 5. Tyler Reddick – 4096 (2 Wins); 6. Denny Hamlin – 4089 (3 Wins); 7. Martin Truex, Jr. – 4089 (3 Wins); 8. Chris Buescher – 4063 (3 Wins).
*Locked Into The Championship 4
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series
