Bell cruises to Phoenix Cup win for Toyota, ends Chevy streak
Bell, who advanced to the Championship 4 last season with a chance to win the series title at Phoenix, blew a brake rotor early in the race and never was in the fight.
Sunday, Bell rallied to win Stage 2, then drove from 20th to first after the final pit stop and easily held off Chris Buescher by 5.465 seconds to earn his first win of the 2024 season.
The win snaps Chevrolet’s three-race winning streak to start the season and gives Toyota a win at a track where it had led a total of 15 laps in the previous four races. Bell led twice Sunday for 50 laps.
Bell was among a group of cars that elected to pit on lap 218 of 312 during what turned out to be the final caution of the race.
The top nine stayed out. Bell, on four new tires and with plenty of fuel, reclaimed the lead when Martin Truex Jr. was forced to pit for fuel and led the final 41 laps.
Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Ty Gibbs, ended up third, Brad Keselowski fourth and Ryan Blaney was fifth.
Completing the top 10 were Ross Chastain, Truex, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick.
“Man, this one feels really good. Just a credit to Adam (Stevens, crew chief), my engineers, all the mechanics on this thing,” Bell said. “You don’t get cars like that very often. Just super, super proud. Proud to be on this No. 20 car.Â
“This car 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.”
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Stage 1
Reddick passed Gibbs with three of 60 last remaining and held on to claim the Stage 1 win by 0.565 seconds. Denny Hamlin was third, Erik Jones fourth and Chase Elloitt completed the top 10.
Derek Kraus spun around on the exit of Turn 2 six laps into the race in an incident that also collected Austin Dillon and Austin Cindric. Cindric’s race came to an early end.
Stage 2
Bell ran down Reddick and passed him with four of 125 laps remaining and claimed the Stage 2 win, his first stage victory of the 2024 season. Hamlin ended up third, William Byron was fourth and Truex rounded out the top five.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, all the lead lap cars elected to pit with Hamlin first off pit road.
Both Bell and Kyle Larson had slow stops and lined up 10th and 18th respectively on the restart. Hamlin led Reddick and Byron on the restart with 118 laps remaining in the race.
Just after Reddick passed Hamlin for the lead on lap 203, Joey Logano got turned by John Hunter Nemechek entering Turn 1, which triggered a five-car accident that again placed the race under caution.
A handful of cars pit but Reddick remained on the track and in the lead on the restart with 100 laps to go.
Two laps after the restart, Hamlin got loose on the inside racing for the lead with Reddick off Turn 2 and spun around to bring out the sixth caution of the race.
Several drivers pit under the caution, including Reddick, but Truex remained on the track and led the way when the race went back to green with 92 laps remaining.
With 60 laps to go, Truex maintained a sizeable advantage out front but Gibbs – who pit under the previous caution for two new tires – had moved to second after restarting in 10th.
Nine laps later, Bell, who stopped for four new tires on his previous stop, got around Gibbs to take the runner-up position.
Truex was forced to pit for fuel with 40 laps to go, which handed the race lead over Bell, who had enough fuel to make it to end of the race.
Buescher moved into second, more than six seconds behind Bell, with 10 laps remaining.
