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Christopher Bell at Phoenix
Christopher Bell had the dominant car in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix. The driver of the No. 20 paced the field for a race-high 176 of 312 laps.
On the final pit stop of the race, the Joe Gibbs Racing team elected to take four tires. By the time Bell got to the end of pit road, he was back in the eighth position with 12 laps remaining.
The two-time Phoenix winner made a charge back to the front and got up to second with five laps to go. However, the rally fell too short as Bell ran second to Ryan Blaney when the checkered flag flew.
Christopher Bell on finishing second at Phoenix: ‘This one stings’
The four-tire stop proved to be too much for Christopher Bell to overcome. Ultimately, the former CRAFSTMAN Truck Series champion felt they ran out of laps in their bid for victory.
Bell enter Sunday’s race 24th in the points standings. By the end of the day, the JGR driver leapt 17 spots up to seventh. While Bell felt it was a much-needed run, he couldn’t hide his disappointment of not winning.
“You win some, you lose some. This one stings, but on a positive side, I’m really proud of our entire team. … It’s something to build on. It was a day that we needed. We got a lot of stage points, finished second. … Just bummed whenever they get away like that,” Bell said.
Bell was gunning for his third straight win in the Phoenix spring race after being the victor in 2024 and 2025.
The Oklahoma native started the day from the 12th position and worked his way to second by the end of stage one. After cycling to the front on pit road, Bell paced the field for every lap of the second stage.
The runner-up effort at Phoenix comes off a third-place finish last Sunday at Circuit of The Americas. Prior to that, Bell posted a 35th-place finish in the Daytona 500 and a 21st-place result in Atlanta.
Bell on the four-tire call: ‘I was in total agreeance’
The decision to take four tires on the final pit stop was made by crew chief Adam Stevens.
Bell felt it was the right call, but with a number of drivers opting for two tires followed by a quick caution, it made the four-tire advantage dissipate.
“Adam made the call for four tires and I was in total agreeance whenever he made that decision. I’m like, ‘Yeah, absolutely. I’ll be able to get back up through there. Then, whenever so many cars took two [tires] and we had that immediate yellow, that was a bummer,” Bell said.
Austin Dillon suffered a right front tire failure with 26 laps to go. This sparked the field to make their way onto pit road, where Bell ultimately slipped back to eighth.
Then, on the restart, a three-car crash involving Zane Smith, Ty Dillon, and John Hunter Nemechek brought out the caution again. Bell was still shuffled back in eighth and, with 12 laps left, wasn’t able to recover.
John Breeden John Breeden is a NASCAR contributor at Heavy Sports. He has five years of sports journalism experience. He graduated from James Madison University in May of 2022 with a degree in media arts and design. John is also a sports reporter for the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Previously, John was a sports writer for JMU’s The Breeze and a NASCAR content writer for Sportskeeda. More about John Breeden
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