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NASCAR Cup Homestead: Bell secures title shot with dramatic victory

Bell and his #20 Joe Gibbs Racing team struggled for much of the race and at one point he was in danger of falling a lap down.

However, a string of cautions in the final 60 of 267 laps knocked several playoff contenders out of the race and put Bell back in the hunt for the win.

He took the lead for the first time on a restart on lap 230, and despite briefly losing it he reclaimed it from William Byron with 15 to go. Bell then held off a late charge from Ryan Blaney and edged him by 1.651 seconds to earn his second win of the 2023 season and first in the playoffs.

The victory puts Bell in the final four championship fight at Phoenix in two weeks, where he will join Kyle Larson to battle for this season’s title.

“I’ve got the best team behind me. That race was a whirlwind,” Bell said. “I was ready to throw the towel in there in the second stage. I got frustrated on the radio.

“Adam [Stevens, crew chief] kept after it. The guys back at the shop were working over the adjustments and gave me what I needed. Whenever we got some clean air, this thing was really good.”

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Rheem / Smurfit Kappa Toyota Camry (Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images)

With one race remaining to qualify for the championship four title fight, the four drivers lowest in points without a win and in danger of playoff elimination are Chris Buescher, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick.

It means Byron and Blaney are the best-placed drivers in the points going into next week’s Martinsville race that will decide the final two places for the four-driver title showdown at Phoenix on 5 November.

Tyler Reddick ended up third, Byron fourth and A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 were Bubba Wallace, Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano – who started the race from the rear of the field in a back-up car, Aric Almirola and Austin Dillon.

NASCAR Cup Homestead race results (267 laps)

 
 
       
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Pits Points Retirement
1 United States C. Bell Joe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 267

3:11'54.678

  8 42  
2 United States R. Blaney Team Penske 12 Ford 267

+1.651

3:11'56.329

1.651 9 53  
3 United States T. Reddick 23XI Racing 45 Toyota 267

+2.870

3:11'57.548

1.219 9 42  
4 United States W. Byron Hendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 267

+3.700

3:11'58.378

0.830 9 49  
5 United States A. Allmendinger Kaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 267

+3.920

3:11'58.598

0.220 9 32  
6 United States B. Wallace 23XI Racing 23 Toyota 267

+5.357

3:12'00.035

1.437 10 31  
7
T. Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing
54 Toyota 267

+5.687

3:12'00.365

0.330 10 34  
8 United States J. Logano Team Penske 22 Ford 267

+6.279

3:12'00.957

0.592 9 30  
9 United States A. Almirola Stewart-Haas Racing 10 Ford 267

+6.666

3:12'01.344

0.387 9 28  
10 United States A. Dillon Richard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 267

+7.108

3:12'01.786

0.442 9 32  
11 United States K. Harvick Stewart-Haas Racing 4 Ford 267

+7.194

3:12'01.872

0.086 9 26  
12 United States A. Cindric Team Penske 2 Ford 267

+8.883

3:12'03.561

1.689 10 25  
13 United States R. Preece Stewart-Haas Racing 41 Ford 267

+9.935

3:12'04.613

1.052 10 24  
14 United States E. Jones Legacy Motor Club 43 Chevrolet 267

+12.015

3:12'06.693

2.080 9 23  
15 United States C. Elliott Hendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 267

+12.661

3:12'07.339

0.646 10 22  
16 Mexico D. Suarez TrackHouse Racing 99 Chevrolet 267

+13.277

3:12'07.955

0.616 9 21  
17 United States C. Briscoe Stewart-Haas Racing 14 Ford 267

+13.445

3:12'08.123

0.168 10 20  
18 United States K. Busch Richard Childress Racing 8 Chevrolet 267

+13.783

3:12'08.461

0.338 9 19  
19 United States A. Bowman Hendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 267

+14.232

3:12'08.910

0.449 10 18  
20 United States C. Lajoie Spire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 267

+14.789

3:12'09.467

0.557 9 17  
21 United States C. Buescher RFK Racing 17 Ford 267

+14.949

3:12'09.627

0.160 9 16  
22 United States M. McDowell Front Row Motorsports 34 Ford 267

+16.399

3:12'11.077

1.450 8 15  
23 United States J. Haley Kaulig Racing 31 Chevrolet 267

+17.958

3:12'12.636

1.559 9 14  
24 United States T. Dillon Spire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 266

+1 Lap

3:12'14.311

1 Lap 9 13  
25 United States T. Gilliland Front Row Motorsports 38 Ford 266

+1 Lap

3:12'14.981

0.670 8 12  
26 United States R. Newman Rick Ware Racing 51 Ford 265

+2 Laps

3:12'16.688

1 Lap 9    
27 United States R. Stenhouse Jr. JTG Daugherty Racing 47 Chevrolet 263

+4 Laps

3:12'16.042

2 Laps 10 10  
28 United States B. Keselowski RFK Racing 6 Ford 262

+5 Laps

3:12'19.529

1 Lap 12 24  
29 United States M. Truex Jr. Joe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 237

+30 Laps

2:49'50.297

25 Laps 9 19 Engine
30 United States D. Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 236

+31 Laps

2:48'31.405

1 Lap 8 19 Accident
31 United States R. Chastain TrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 221

+46 Laps

2:31'54.565

15 Laps 8 6 Accident
32 United States J. Nemechek Legacy Motor Club 42 Chevrolet 218

+49 Laps

2:31'54.263

3 Laps 9   Accident
33 United States J. Yeley Rick Ware Racing 15 Ford 218

+49 Laps

2:31'54.418

0.155 7   Accident
34 United States K. Larson Hendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 214

+53 Laps

2:23'03.429

4 Laps 8 21 Accident
35 United States J. Bilicki Live Fast Motorsports 78 Chevrolet 201

+66 Laps

2:15'10.172

13 Laps 8   Accident
36 United States H. Burton Wood Brothers Racing 21 Ford 165

+102 Laps

1:47'01.267

36 Laps 7 1 Overheating

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