Christopher Bell Wins at Bristol as Joe Gibbs Racing Dominates the First Round of Playoffs
Bristol, Tenn. – The Joe Gibbs Racing team completed an impeccable performance in the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Christopher Bell achieved an impressive victory on Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bell starred in a spectacular comeback, going from fourth to first place on the final restart. He led the last four laps on the 0.533-mile oval, ending a 24-race winless streak and securing his fourth win of the season.This victory marks the 13th in Bell’s career, who led only 12 laps on this occasion. He joined his JGR teammates, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, as playoff winners, thus closing out the first round in Bristol. In the competition, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, and Josh Berry were eliminated from the championship contention, which consists of ten races.It wasn’t easy in the end, but we did it. We know any week could be ours, and it hadn’t been for a long time. But Bristol, this is ours!
Christopher Bell
Bell crossed the finish line with a 0.343-second lead over Brad Keselowski, who was looking to break a 51-race winless streak.I’m very excited about the start of the playoffs.
Joe Gibbs, team owner
Zane Smith finished in third place, followed by Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. The race was marked by 14 yellow flags, a season record, which covered 137 laps. Teams struggled to adapt to a new right-side tire that suffered excessive wear, forcing more pit stops. The playoff drama intensified with 40 laps to go, when a fire broke out in Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford. Although his team managed to extinguish the flames, Cindric lost several laps in the pits and reappeared outside the top 30. His thirtieth position was enough to secure the last spot in the second round.It’s the story of our season. A 50-50 on the restart, and I got the lane that couldn’t get going. It’s frustrating. We had a great car, a great strategy, and on the last restart, we rolled the dice and got nothing good.
Brad Keselowski
Bowman, after recovering from a spin on lap 100, got up to second. A win would have qualified him, but he finished eighth, remaining 10 points away from advancing.Moving forward. I believe in this team. I believe in myself. I haven’t been driving as well as I am now in the Cup Series.
Austin Cindric
Ty Gibbs, seeking his first Cup victory, led 201 of 500 laps, but made a mistake trying to get to the pits on his final green flag stop, losing considerable time in his No. 54 Toyota. Berry, with a striking exit, was the first driver eliminated. The Wood Brothers Racing driver, who qualified tenth and got to third, suffered a fire in his No. 21 Ford.I don’t think you can point to anything that cost us. We had our backs against the wall coming here. We knew it was going to be difficult.
Alex Bowman
Berry, whose playoff debut began with a crash on the first lap of the Southern 500, finished last in all three races of the first round. Bell, known for his tranquility, expressed his frustration with his team after finishing seventh in the previous race at Gateway. Bell, with no wins in 24 races and without a top five since July, commented on his frustration at seeing his teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe win the first two playoff races.It’s very disappointing. That was going to be a lot of fun. We were making progress. It’s been a couple of tough weeks, but it hasn’t been because of performance. We executed well and ran well, we just didn’t get the results.
Josh Berry
The second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs will begin on Sunday, September 21st at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It will be the first Cup race on the 1.058-mile oval since June 2024 and the first playoff race in Loudon, New Hampshire, since September 2017.If I were constantly leading laps and in a position to win, then I would never have been frustrated. But the fact is that I haven’t been in a position to win races, I haven’t led laps. My teammates lead, it seems, almost all the laps and get the results. It’s less about winning races and more about being in a position to do well, and we haven’t had that.
Christopher Bell
