After Christopher Bell climbed from his Toyota and talked with crew chief Adam Stevens, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver seemed as if he was still trying to process what had just happened as the media surrounded him on pit road.
“I think I’m just in shock right now,” Bell said. “I didn’t think it was going to end like that.”
With 10 laps remaining in the Bank of America 400, Bell trailed JGR teammate Chase Briscoe by 2.180 seconds. Then, suddenly, he started catching Briscoe, cutting the deficit to 1.811 seconds with five laps to go.
Bell didn’t know the right-front tire on Briscoe’s car was cording. By the time they reached the final lap, Bell had caught Briscoe. He dove underneath Briscoe in turns three and four, and the two drag raced off turn fourth. They banged together, Briscoe bounced off the wall, but he held on and finished a nose ahead of Bell.”
“I got a lot closer than I thought I was going to,” Bell said. “Whenever I got beside him, I thought I stalled him and then I kind of got out of shape. I don’t know, I guess I should have stayed into him a little bit harder and tried to nose him to the line. I thought that I stalled him enough that I could nose him to the line and I didn’t.”
Before Bell caught Briscoe, he said he was “just out there logging laps.”
Jared C. Tilton//Getty Images
Christopher Bell (#20) trying to catch Chase Briscoe (#19).
“I stayed with him pretty good, and then I had a couple moments where I slid really bad and let him get away,” Bell said.
Bell thought his team did a good job of controlling the race when they were leading. He led three times for 93 laps. The only driver who led more was Kyle Larson, who set the pace five times for 97 circuits.
“We’re so equal that it’s just a matter of who gets out front,” Bell said.
Bell noted that in the grand scheme of things his second-place finish really didn’t allow him to accomplish anything in his title hunt. He entered the Charlotte race in third place, 55 points down to Larson. Bell left Charlotte in third, 51 points behind Larson.
“That ain’t gonna do it,” Bell said.
No Top 5 for Larson
For the first time in this year’s Chase, Kyle Larson finished outside the top five, but the Hendrick Motorsports driver gained nine points on second place Denny Hamlin, extending his lead to 49 points.
“I was just hanging on the last 15, 18 laps,” Larson said after his sixth-place finish to winner Chase Briscoe. “I was not in a position of power. Honestly, I thought I was going to manage that run well. The top two pushed really hard, and I could see Denny (Hamlin) kind of settled in, so I was settling in just to try to make my tires live.”
Lack of Long Run Speed Hurts Hamlin
After a disappointing Las Vegas race, Denny Hamlin said he had to unplug from the sport for a few days, but his fifth-place finish in the Bank of America 400 didn’t provide him with the day he had hoped as he now trails standings leader Kyle Larson by 49 points.
“Just didn’t have the long run speed that we needed,” Hamlin said. “I thought the short run was OK. I felt like we were a lot better when it was daytime, and then once it cooled off and the track got a little bit faster, we just lost the edge that we had.”
Blaney Stays on Track with a Third-Place Finish
The Toyota drivers were expected to dominate the three consecutive 1.5-mile tracks, but Ryan Blaney spoiled the party with two top-fives and then a third-place finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Jared C. Tilton//Getty Images
Ryan Blaney.
Even though Toyota drivers Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell finished first and second, respectively, Blaney commandeered third after he rebounded from a pit road speeding penalty on lap 36 in the 267-lap event. He remained fifth in the standings, 85 points behind leader Kyle Larson.
“I’m looking forward to the next month,” Blaney said about the upcoming races at Phoenix, Talladega, Martinsville, and Homestead.
“I think this team can do a great job at figuring out things when we need to, whether that’s going to a track we’ve been successful at, or going to the tracks we need to work at. Phoenix (Raceway) has been a good one for us, and hopefully, it’ll be a good one again next week.”
Berry Claims Top 5
Josh Berry upset the applecart for the Chase contenders, claiming fourth in the race won by Chase Briscoe. It was Berry’s first top-five finish since August when he finished third at New Hampshire in the regular season’s 25th-race. He now has eight top-10 finishes in the last 11 races.
“I was really happy with the car the majority of the race,” said Berry, who’s leaving the Wood Brothers at the end of the season and joining Legacy Motor Club.
“We made some good progress at the start, and then when the 54 (Ty Gibbs) got the wall on that restart we went all the way to the back again because it was right in front of us. We just kind of plugged along and finally had a real good long run there at the end and was able to make some progress.
“We felt like we were a better car on the long run, and then early in that Stage I tried to just manage myself a little bit just in case it ran long, and ultimately it did. I think some of those guys started to cord their tires and fall off.”
Van Gisbergen Secures Another Oval Top 10
With a seventh-place finish in Charlotte Motor Speedway’s Bank of America 400, Shane van Gisbergen secured his second consecutive top-10 finish on an oval.
The New Zealander finished ninth at Las Vegas. He now has six top-10 finishes this year on NASCAR Cup Series oval tracks.
Icon Sportswire//Getty Images
“Charlotte (Motor Speedway) seems to suit us,” Van Gisbergen said. “We seem to have a good base setup for this track.
“We changed a lot on our cars, trying to understand them and get them better. It’s really nice to see some progress. We’ve had too many days of running 30th as a team.”
Crash Eliminates Chase Contenders Wallace, Byron
When Alex Bowman lost control of his car on lap 77 of the 267-lap Bank of America 400, he sent Bubba Wallace and William Byron to the garage and down in the Chase standings.
The crash occurred when Bowman lost control of his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet as he exited turn two, shot up the track, and hit Wallace’s Toyota, knocking him into the wall. Byron then collided with Bowman as he started coming off the wall. After hitting the outside wall, Wallace spun across the track and slammed into the inside wall. All three cars were eliminated. Wallace had to be helped from his car but then slowly walked to the ambulance for the ride to the infield care center.
“No hard feelings, that is just racing,” Wallace said after walking from the infield care center. “He (Bowman) just got loose and got us. The first hit wiped our brakes out. The second hit got me good.”
Wallace was in fifth and Bowman was sixth at the time of the accident.
“I just got loose,” Bowman said. “Honestly, I had been really tight. As soon as it got to the exit of the corner, it snapped and it kind of didn’t stand a chance. Unfortunately, I grabbed too much wheel, overcorrected it, and got in those two guys’ (Wallace and Byron) way. It’s one thing to get loose and crash, but to ruin their days too really sucks.”
Byron was running the top of the track when the accident occurred.
“I lifted right away, but I couldn’t get low enough because he kind of came back off the wall,” Byron said.
Wallace finished 37th and dropped from 10th to 12th in the standings. Byron placed last in the 39-car field and fell one position to 13th in the Chase standings.
A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association’s sports feature category. During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication’s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.