Christopher Bell took advantage of Martin Truex Jr.’s late decision to pit under the green flag to win the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday.
Bell was hoping there would be no cautions before the white flag, and with 10 laps remaining he had a lead of more than six seconds over Chris Buescher and Ty Gibbs. His prayers were answered and he was able to lead his No. 20 Toyota Camry into victory lane and score important points early in the Cup Series season.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Ream Toyota, drives the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona on March 10, 2024. (Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
Bell was 20th on the final restart and moved into the lead.
“This feels really good,” he told FOX Sports. “You don’t get cars like that very often. But I’m really, really proud to be in this (No.) 20 car. The Reem Camry was great today. I feel like I have the ability to run races like this over and over again.” ”
“We hope this is the first of many this year.”
Gibbs and Buescher battled for second place in the closing stages, but both were too far behind Bell to catch up. However, No. 17 was able to stop Gibbs from taking 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)
Crew chief says beer can was ‘stuck’ in William Byron’s car’s air filter in Las Vegas
Truex Jr.’s gamble to stay on the track in the lead while the rest of the leaders pitted didn’t pay off. With 41 laps remaining, he had to change tires and surrendered the lead. He fell out of the top 15 as soon as he hit pit road, but he managed to claw back and recover. He finished in 7th place.
It was Bell’s seventh career victory. He won two dirt races in 2023 at Bristol and Homestead-Miami. His win also helped erase two consecutive years of poor performance in 2024.
After finishing third at Daytona, he was 34th at Atlanta and 33rd at Las Vegas.
Despite winning two of the first three races, Hendrick Motorsports had a tough day on the track as Kyle Larson had the best finish among his teammates. He was 11th. 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, races in the NASCAR Cup Series Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 10, 2024 in Avondale, Arizona. (Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The NASCAR Cup Series season begins next weekend in Bristol.
Follow Fox News Digital X sports broadcast and subscribe Fox News Sports Huddle Newsletter.
