Christopher Bell made it three in a row by winning Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota held off teammate Denny Hamlin on the final restart with two laps to go to become the first Cup driver since Kyle Larson in 2021 to win three consecutive races.
Bell led a race-high 105 laps en route to his 12th win at NASCAR’s top level, and it was his second victory at Phoenix. Behind Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Josh Berry and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five.
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Polesitter William Byron finished sixth in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, followed by Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Zane Smith and Chase Elliott to round out the top 10.
A multicar wreck at Lap 99 took out several contenders when Chase Briscoe collided with Justin Haley and collected Carson Hocevar. Others involved in the wreck included Brad Keselowski, Cole Custer, Riley Herbst, Shane van Gisbergen, Noah Gragson, AJ Allmendinger, Todd Gilliland and Austin Dillon.
SHOP: Winner’s gear
Sunday’s race featured a softer Goodyear option tire that had more grip but was designed to wear out more quickly than the primary tires, giving crew chiefs a strategy tool to utilize.
In one example of a driver using the option tire to rocket through the field, RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece moved up from 33rd place to finish third in Stage 1. Byron won Stage 1 while Bell took top honors in Stage 2.
The Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Sunday for the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).
This story will be updated.
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