Cup Series: Christopher Bell wins action-packed race in Atlanta

3 hours ago7 min read

Written by Sean McKean

In a three-car battle between him, Carson Hocevar, and Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell snuck through to take his first victory of the season. It was Bell’s first victory at Atlanta.

As it unfolded

Four days prior to the race, NASCAR mandated a rule that teams were to only have nine sets of tyres in use for the race. This rule meant that teams had to be extra cautious regarding their tyre strategies.

Ryan Blaney started from pole, but teammate Austin Cindric quickly inched forward to take the lead on the inside with help from Penske-affiliated Josh Berry. By Lap 4, all four Penske cars – Cindric, Berry, Blaney and Joey Logano – were in the top four on the high line.

The field fanned out from single-file racing on Lap 17, with Logano trying to make a move for the lead with help from Blaney. However, this did not pan out well, as both drivers fell into the clutches of the fast-moving high line.

On Lap 34, Josh Berry finally took the lead from Cindric. But only nine laps later, Todd Gilliland took the lead and led his first laps of the day.

As Berry took the lead back on Lap 45, Michael McDowell dropped out of the lead pack. This was due to a loss of power steering.

Despite all the drivers’ handling getting worse, they got more aggressive as the stage neared its end. However, nothing stopped Josh Berry from taking his second ever stage victory. Cindric and William Byron followed behind.

Stage 1 Results:

No. 21 - Josh Berry (Wood Brothers Racing)
No. 2 - Austin Cindric (Team Penske)
No. 24 - William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 23 - Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing)
No. 9 - Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 45 - Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing)
No. 34 - Todd Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports)
No. 12 - Ryan Blaney (Team Penske)
No. 77 - Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports)
No. 22 - Joey Logano (Team Penske)

All drivers took to the pits under the stage break. Joey Logano managed to get back into the lead off of a fast pit stop. Alex Bowman also gained ground with eight further spots.

Berry and Logano headed the field on the Lap 69 restart. Logano quickly cleared the Wood Brothers Racing driver for the lead.

The first caution came out on Lap 82. In Turn 4, Kaulig’s Ty Dillon seemingly lost the car all by himself, which took him for a spin and gave him two flat tyres. Although Dillon needed a push back to the pits, he continued in the race.

All drivers took the opportunity to pit for fuel. Logano kept his lead.

Logano led on the Lap 89 restart, but behind, the field fanned out three-by-three.

The caution came out shortly after the restart on Lap 102. In the middle of traffic, Erik Jones tried to move from the high line to low – sending him into a spin and eventually into the inside wall. Jones continued on but needed to be pushed back to the pits.

Logano and Gilliland led on the Lap 108 restart. With great help from Alex Bowman, Todd Gilliland managed to take the lead. However, Logano quickly took it back.

Drama struck a front-runner on Lap 134. Going into Turn 1, Todd Gilliland lost a right-rear tyre. He subsequently dropped out of the pack and took to the pits. The caution eventually came out for Gilliand’s tyre carcass one lap later.

Logano again led the way on Lap 141. Despite battling for a few laps with Hendrick’s Bowman and Kyle Larson, Logano prevailed to keep the lead.

Off of Turn 4 on Lap 149, Chase Elliott – who was quickly moving through the pack on fresh tyres – clipped the wall after contact with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. This broke the toe-link on Elliott’s car, sending him into a spin that collected Brad Keselowski and Corey Lajoie. Keselowski and Lajoie retired from the race as a result whilst Elliott continued with damage. The caution flag was waved.

Most drivers from ninth on back took to the pits. Chase Briscoe was the first car out of the pits in this bunch. Also, AJ Allmendinger’s crew went under the hood during the pit stop – citing engine issues for the Kaulig driver.

Logano led on the restart with four laps to go in the stage. Alex Bowman managed to take the lead with a strong push from Larson with three laps remaining.

Come the green and white chequered flag, though, Kyle Larson took his first stage victory on a drafting track ahead of Bubba Wallace and Logano.

Stage 2 Results:

No. 5 - Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 23 - Bubba Wallace (23XI Racing)
No. 22 - Joey Logano (Team Penske)
No. 24 - William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 45 - Tyler Reddick (23XI Racing)
No. 48 - Alex Bowman (Hendrick Motorsports)
No. 77 - Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports)
No. 47 - Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Hyak Motorsports)
No. 2 - Austin Cindric (Team Penske)
No. 4 - Noah Gragson (Front Row Motorsports)

The top 12 drivers took to the pits under the break. Larson was the first driver out of the pits.

Chase Briscoe led the way on the restart, but a strong push by teammate Shane van Gisbergen put Ross Chastain into the lead. On Lap 183, van Gisbergen took his first lead of the day.

Whilst one Trackhouse driver led, however, another crashed. On the same lap van Gisbergen took the lead, Daniel Suarez got bottlenecked on the high line and had to check up. This forced Suarez to squeeze Ty Gibbs to his inside – sending the No. 99 into a spin in front of the pack. This hard crash collected Cole Custer, JJ Yeley and Noah Gragson.

Of those involved in the accident, Suarez, Custer, Gragson and Yeley retired from the race.

Every single driver took to the pits. Kyle Busch and Chase Briscoe were the first two out.

Busch led the way on the restart, but it was William Byron who managed to draw even for ten laps. With help from Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry managed to take the lead by Lap 200.

The caution came back out with 57 laps to go. In Turn 3, Chase Briscoe clipped the wall and checked up the entire high line. This resulted in an accordion-style crash that spun both Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman. They each continued on.

Separately, Ty Gibbs cut a tyre down and went for an unassisted spin on the back stretch at the same time as the main crash. He continued.

Only a few cars came to the pits under this caution. This group included Chase Elliott, Zane Smith and Chase Briscoe.

Berry led the way with only 48 laps to go, but Kyle Busch eventually cleared him for the lead with help from Chastain. And as the pushes got more aggressive, Busch and Chastain would duke it out for a number of laps.

Ten laps after the restart, Blaney cleared Busch for the lead. He took Chastain with him. This lead-swapping continued for 20 laps – swapping hands between Chastain, Berry, Cindric, Blaney and Busch.

The aggression eventually culminated in a single-car spin for Ryan Blaney with 27 laps remaining. Going into Turn 1, a push by Carson Hocevar went awry for Blaney, which pitched him into a spin that he nearly saved. He kept it out of the wall and the rest of the field. Luckily, the caution came out.

Berry again led the way with 22 laps remaining. The lead-swapping continued, as Larson and Hocevar took their leads. Austin Cindric, though, eventually emerged as a stable leader.

As the race wound down to only eight laps to go, the fresh tyres on Ryan Blaney allowed him to scythe through the pack – eventually getting into the top five with seven remaining.

With five laps to go, Kyle Larson took the lead and tried blocking Cindric. However, Larson wasn’t quite clear, which sent Cindric into the wall and into a spin. This spin collected William Byron as the No. 2 and 24 cars hit the inside wall; the crash ended both of their days.

No matter whose fault the crash was, this guaranteed that an overtime restart would ensue.

Larson led the way with only two laps remaining. However, on the white flag, Christopher Bell drew to the outside of Larson and cleared him. This directly coincided with the caution coming out for a crash between Josh Berry and others, meaning that Bell took the victory in Atlanta. It was his first victory of the season and first at Atlanta.

Provisional Results: