{"id":50260,"date":"2025-03-09T21:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T02:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=50260"},"modified":"2025-03-09T21:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T02:23:09","slug":"bell-triumphs-in-phoenix-with-dramatic-win-over-teammate-hamlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/09\/bell-triumphs-in-phoenix-with-dramatic-win-over-teammate-hamlin\/","title":{"rendered":"Bell triumphs in Phoenix with dramatic win over teammate Hamlin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

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By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Christopher Bell prevailed in a dramatic side-by-side finish with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin \u2014 the second-closest finish in Phoenix Raceway history \u2014 to earn Bell his third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory this season, a record in the sport\u2019s Next Gen Car era.<\/p>\n

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Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bell\u2019s No. 20 JGR Toyota went high alongside Hamlin\u2019s No. 11 Toyota as the two cars dueled it out in the final two corners of a two-lap shootout on the one-mile speedway. The 30-year-old Oklahoman claimed the historic win by a mere .049 seconds, marking his second straight victory in this spring race at Phoenix.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow about that one, race fans? Oh my gosh!\u201d a jubilant Bell shouted to the Phoenix crowd after collecting the winner\u2019s checkered flag at the start-finish line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you’re sitting there dreaming it up, that’s about as ugly as it gets. You put the red [option] tires on, and you’re like, all right, what I don\u2019t want to happen is go 20, 30 laps, get a yellow. That happened. Then we went 10 more laps, had another yellow.<\/p>\n

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Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota, leads Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota, and Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, to the finish line to win the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIt was all about who could get clear on the restart. Neither of us could. We were racing really hard coming to the line. JGR ran 1-2 \u2014 how about that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamlin\u2019s runner-up finish was disappointing in the moment but still his best of the early season in the No. 11 JGR Toyota, earning the team its first 1-2 finish of 2025. He led the white-flag lap but couldn\u2019t fend off Bell, who drove the fastest car of the day, leading a race-high 103 of the 312 laps.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreat job by the Sport Clips team, it got better as it went,\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cPit crew did a phenomenal job keeping us in the game. We had a bad stop in the middle but made up for it in the end.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The end] was the first time we were able to get some clean air all day, and our car was really fast. I really wanted it to stay green because I thought that\u2019s where we\u2019d excel, especially on these tires. We got a good restart \u2013 the five [Kyle Larson] really gave me a good push on the frontstretch and down the backstretch. I had position on the 20, but I knew he was going to send it in there if he could. We just ran out of racetrack. But great finish.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota, poses with the winner sticker on his car in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Team owner Joe Gibbs joked afterward that having his two drivers battle for the win and finish 1-2 was a huge positive, but it had him on pins and needles during the closing laps Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can be a tense Monday meeting if it doesn\u2019t work out,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Kyle Larson claimed third place, with Wood Brothers Racing\u2019s Josh Berry and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing\u2019s Chris Buescher rounding out the top five. It was the best finish of the year for Berry and came on a busy afternoon where teams had to strategize using two kinds of tires \u2014 option (red) or primary (yellow) \u2014 for only the second time in Next Gen points-racing competition.<\/p>\n

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Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Goodyear allotted each team two sets of the option tires and six of the primary, with the idea that the red option tires were quicker but presented a challenge due to their quicker wear. The initial response to the extra element in the race was positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything went according to plan at Phoenix, and the option tire worked very well,\u201d Goodyear\u2019s NASCAR project manager Mark Keto said after the race. \u201cIt gave teams a chance to vary their strategies and maximize their effectiveness to gain track position over teams that were on the primary tires.<\/p>\n

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Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford, leads the field during the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cTeams were also able to manage their options once they got track position and make them last longer into a run. Overall, we were very happy with the balance and strategy of the prime\/option tire setup and how it added to the racing all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tire option played into the race, with RFK Racing\u2019s Ryan Preece, for example, switching early to the red tires and ultimately advancing more than 25 positions on track to lead 34 laps. Winning crew chief Adam Stevens said after the race that a lot was learned about the tires and hoped the series would be open to using them again. NASCAR will hold a closed tire test Monday at Phoenix.<\/p>\n

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William Byron, driver of the #24 Z by HP Chevrolet, leads the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hendrick teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman finished sixth and seventh, followed by Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Kyle Busch, Front Row Motorsports\u2019 Zane Smith, and Hendrick\u2019s Chase Elliott, rounding out the top 10. It was the third consecutive top 10 for two-time series champion Busch and a season-best finish for Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just crazy there at the end,\u201d Byron said of the race strategy. \u201cWe restarted 21st and got into the top 10 pretty quickly. I feel like we probably used up a lot of tire on the reds to get those last few spots, so it was hard to get much more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy with it. The No. 24 Chevrolet team put together a good weekend. We learned a lot and got a solid finish, so that\u2019s something to be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A general view of racing from the grandstands during the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Graythen\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Katherine Legge, a sports car race winner and former Indianapolis 500 starter, finished 30th on the 37-car grid in her NASCAR Cup Series debut, driving the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet. The British driver became only the eighth woman in NASCAR\u2019s modern era (1972-present) to compete in the sport\u2019s highest level, and the first since Danica Patrick raced in the 2018 DAYTONA 500.<\/p>\n

One-mile tracks like Phoenix are not typically known for big multi-car accidents, but the \u201cbig one\u201d in the desert occurred early in Sunday\u2019s race. Spire Motorsports\u2019 teammates Justin Haley and Carson Hocevar, along with Joe Gibbs Racing\u2019s Chase Briscoe, made heavy contact racing four-wide out of Turn 2, ultimately collecting and eliminating five other cars from the race.<\/p>\n

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Kyle Larson, driver of the #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 09, 2025 in Avondale, Arizona. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite the early end to his chances, Haley was impressed with the softer option tires.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I would have been on the option tires the whole time and everyone else on the primaries,\u201d Haley said. \u201cThey just make you feel like Superman. I like the tire. I honestly feel like we should go to them everywhere. They make the cars drive a lot better. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s what you want, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell now heads to the 1.5-mile Las Vegas high banks next week, hoping to match a milestone set by NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who is the only driver to win four of a season\u2019s first five races, doing so in 1992.<\/p>\n

Byron leads the championship standings by 13 points over Bell as the NASCAR Cup Series returns to competition Sunday in the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Larson is the defending race winner.<\/p>\n

Interview:<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

NCS Race Winner – Christopher Bell (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet) –<\/p>\n

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NCS Race Winning Team – Adam Stevens (Crew Chief) and Joe Gibbs (Team Owner) – NASCAR Press Conference –<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/PHX1NCSAdamStevensJoeGibbs3925.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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NASCAR Cup Series Race – Shriners Children’s 500<\/b><\/p>\n

Phoenix Raceway<\/b><\/p>\n

Avondale, Arizona<\/b><\/p>\n

Sunday, March 9, 2025<\/b><\/p>\n

                1. (11)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 312.<\/p>\n

                2. (10)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 312.<\/p>\n

                3. (17)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 312.<\/p>\n

                4. (4)  Josh Berry, Ford, 312.<\/p>\n

                5. (13)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 312.<\/p>\n

                6. (1)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 312.<\/p>\n

                7. (32)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 312.<\/p>\n

                8. (15)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 312.<\/p>\n

                9. (26)  Zane Smith, Ford, 312.<\/p>\n

                10. (6)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 312.<\/p>\n

                11. (24)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 312.<\/p>\n

                12. (21)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 312.<\/p>\n

                13. (2)  Joey Logano, Ford, 312.<\/p>\n

                14. (36)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 312.<\/p>\n

                15. (28)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 312.<\/p>\n

                16. (25)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 312.<\/p>\n

                17. (27)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 312.<\/p>\n

                18. (5)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 312.<\/p>\n

                19. (14)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 312.<\/p>\n

                20. (9)  Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 312.<\/p>\n

                21. (22)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 311.<\/p>\n

                22. (16)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 311.<\/p>\n

                23. (31)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 308.<\/p>\n

                24. (35)  Cody Ware, Ford, 306.<\/p>\n

                25. (34)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, Accident, 304.<\/p>\n

                26. (33)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 303.<\/p>\n

                27. (7)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 290.<\/p>\n

                28. (12)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, Engine, 289.<\/p>\n

                29. (19)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Accident, 265.<\/p>\n

                30. (37)  Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, Accident, 210.<\/p>\n

                31. (29)  Shane Van Gisbergen #, Chevrolet, Accident, 100.<\/p>\n

                32. (23)  Cole Custer, Ford, Accident, 99.<\/p>\n

                33. (20)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, Accident, 99.<\/p>\n

                34. (8)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, Accident, 98.<\/p>\n

                35. (30)  Chase Briscoe, Toyota, Accident, 98.<\/p>\n

                36. (3)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, Accident, 98.<\/p>\n

                37. (18)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, Accident, 98.<\/p>\n

Average Speed of Race Winner:  92.141 mph.<\/p>\n

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 23 Mins, 10 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .049 Seconds.<\/p>\n

Caution Flags:  10 for 73 laps.<\/p>\n

Lead Changes:  17 among 6 drivers.<\/p>\n

Lap Leaders:   W. Byron 0;J. Logano 1;W. Byron 2-9;J. Logano 10-13;W. Byron 14-87;A. Cindric 88-93;W. Byron 94;C. Bell 95-128;J. Logano 129-177;C. Bell 178-189;J. Logano 190-216;C. Bell 217-235;R. Preece 236-269;C. Bell 270-294;D. Hamlin 295;C. Bell 296-309;D. Hamlin 310-311;C. Bell 312.<\/p>\n

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Christopher Bell 6 times for 105 laps; William Byron 3 times for 83 laps; Joey Logano 4 times for 81 laps; Ryan Preece 1 time for 34 laps; Austin Cindric 1 time for 6 laps; Denny Hamlin 2 times for 3 laps.<\/p>\n

Stage #1 Top Ten: 24,45,60,20,12,21,77,11,9,5<\/p>\n

Stage #2 Top Ten: 20,22,24,12,45,11,2,99,5,21<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service AVONDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Christopher Bell prevailed in a dramatic side-by-side finish with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin \u2014 the second-closest finish in Phoenix Raceway history \u2014 to earn Bell his third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory this season, a record in the sport\u2019s Next Gen Car […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":50267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[451,16,395],"class_list":["post-50260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-christopher-bell","tag-nascar","tag-phoenix-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/GettyImages-2204223839-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-d4E","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50260"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50291,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50260\/revisions\/50291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}