Christopher Bell took advantage of Martin Truex Jr.'s late decision to pit under a green flag and won the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday.
Bell had a lead of more than six seconds over Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs with 10 laps remaining as he hoped there would be no cautions before the white flag. His prayers were answered and he was able to guide the No. 20 Toyota Camry to Victory Lane and score some crucial points at the start of the Cup season.
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Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Rheem Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 10, 2024, in Avondale, Arizona. (Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Bell was 20th on the final restart and worked his way to the front.
“This one feels really good,” he told FOX Sports. “You don't see cars like that very often, just super, super proud, proud to be in this (No.) 20 car. This Rheem Camry was incredible today. I feel like we have the ability to run races like this many times.”
“Hopefully this will be the first of many this year.”
Gibbs and Buescher battled for second down the stretch, and both were too far behind Bell to catch him. But No. 17 was able to hold off Gibbs for second place. Brad Keselowski and defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five.
Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 8, 2024, in Avondale, Arizona. (Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
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Truex Jr.'s bid to stay on track with the lead while the rest of the leaders pitted did not bear fruit. He needed to change tires with 41 laps remaining and gave up the lead. He fell out of the top 15 as soon as he came to the pits, but was able to recover. He finished seventh.
It was Bell's seventh career victory. He won two in 2023: at Bristol for the dirt race and at Homestead-Miami. His victory also helped nullify two consecutive poor results in 2024.
After finishing third at Daytona, he placed 34th at Atlanta and 33rd at Las Vegas.
Despite winning two of the first three races, Hendrick Motorsports had a tough day at the track as Kyle Larson finished the best of all his teammates. He was in 11th place. His teammate, William Byron, who won the Daytona 500, finished 18th.
Bell won Stage 2 and Tyler Reddick won Stage 1.
Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 10, 2024, in Avondale, Arizona. (Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
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The NASCAR Cup season comes to Bristol next weekend.
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