Christopher Bell Wins at Bristol as Joe Gibbs Racing Dominates the First Round of Playoffs
In an exciting race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell, driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, took the victory, thus ensuring his team’s absolute dominance in the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Bell, starting from fourth position, made an impressive comeback to lead the last four laps of the 0.533-mile circuit, breaking a streak of 24 races without wins and adding his fourth win of the season.With this victory, Bell joins teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe as winners in the playoffs, marking the close of the first round in Bristol. The competition was fierce, with Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, and Josh Berry being eliminated from the fight for the championship.“It wasn’t easy in the end, but we did it,” declared Bell, who led only 12 laps in his thirteenth career victory. “We know any week can be ours, and it hasn’t been for a while. But Bristol, tonight is ours!”.
Christopher Bell
Brad Keselowski, seeking to break a 51-race winless streak, finished in second place, just 0.343 seconds behind Bell. Zane Smith achieved third place, followed by Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. The race was marked by a record 14 yellow flags, which interrupted the competition for 137 laps, due to the difficulties of the drivers and teams in adapting to a new right-side tire, which showed excessive wear and required more pit stops. The playoff drama reached its peak 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. Despite this, his thirtieth position was enough to secure the last qualifying spot for the second round. Alex Bowman, after recovering from a spin on lap 100, managed to be second in the race. Despite his efforts, he finished eighth, remaining 10 points away from advancing to the next phase. Ty Gibbs, seeking his first Cup victory, led the most laps (201 of 500), but a mistake on his final pit stop cost him valuable time. Josh Berry was the first driver eliminated, with an incident that forced him to abandon the race. Berry, who had a difficult playoff debut, had no luck in the three races of the first round. The next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs will take place on Sunday, September 21st at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, marking the series’ return to this 1.058-mile oval since June 2024.“I am very excited about the start of the playoffs,” commented team owner Joe Gibbs.
Joe Gibbs
