Christopher Bell clinched a spot within the NASCAR Cup Collection title race in Phoenix with a win at Homestead on Sunday.
Bell handed William Byron for the win with 15 laps to go and drove away to ensure that Joe Gibbs Racing can have at the very least one automotive racing for the championship. Bell’s teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. every had late-race issues and will every have to win at Martinsville subsequent week to have a title shot.
Hamlin had one thing break on his automotive after racing with Ryan Blaney for a spot within the prime 5. Hamlin’s automotive shot straight into the wall in Turns 1 and a pair of and induced a warning with 32 laps to go within the 267-lap race.
As Hamlin pulled his broken automotive into his pit stall, Truex radioed to his crew that his engine was having issues. As smoke got here out the tailpipes of Truex’s automotive, his crew pushed the automotive behind the wall.
Blaney completed second whereas Tyler Reddick was third and Byron completed fourth. With Bell and Kyle Larson assured two of the 4 championship spots at Phoenix, William Byron has a wholesome lead on fifth whereas Blaney is in fourth and 10 factors forward of Tyler Reddick in fifth.
Truex and Hamlin are every 17 factors again of Blaney in fourth. Whereas that’s a deficit that may be overcome, it’s unlikely that Byron and Blaney will fall out of the highest 4 at Martinsville. It’s cheap to anticipate that both none or certainly one of Hamlin and Truex will likely be racing for the title in two weeks.
Bell didn’t have a aggressive automotive for a lot of the race. He discovered himself liable to going a lap down halfway via the race however some vital changes netted some critical velocity.
It’s the second straight season Bell will race for the title. He earned a title shot a season in the past with a win at Martinsville and went on to complete third within the standings after he was tenth at Phoenix. He’s a legit title contender this season as he hasn’t completed decrease than fifteenth in any of the final seven races.
Kyle Larson crashes out
Larson might race aggressively at Homestead after he gained at Las Vegas per week in the past to clinch one of many 4 title spots. He did simply that coming to pit highway in the course of the closing green-flag pit cease cycle of the race and hit the rear of Blaney’s automotive earlier than plowing into the barrels that defend the top of the pit highway wall.
Larson and Blaney have been operating 1-2 on the time of the incident and the injury was an excessive amount of for Larson to proceed.
Factors standings
1. Kyle Larson (gained at Las Vegas)
2. Christopher Bell (gained at Homestead)
3. William Byron, 4,126 factors
4. Ryan Blaney, 4,106
5. Tyler Reddick, 4,096
6. Martin Truex, 4,089
6. Denny Hamlin, 4,089
8. Chris Buescher, 4,063
Race outcomes
1. Christopher Bell
2. Ryan Blaney
3. Tyler Reddick
4. William Byron
5. AJ Allmendinger
6. Bubba Wallace
7. Ty Gibbs
8. Joey Logano
9. Aric Almirola
10. Austin Dillon
11. Kevin Harvick
12. Austin Cindric
13. Ryan Preece
14. Erik Jones
15. Chase Elliott
16. Daniel Suarez
17. Chase Briscoe
18. Kyle Busch
19. Alex Bowman
20. Corey LaJoie
21. Chris Buescher
22. Michael McDowell
23. Justin Haley
24. Ty Dillon
25. Todd Gilliland
26. Ryan newman
27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
28. Brad Keselowski
29. Martin Truex Jr.
30. Denny Hamlin
31. Ross Chastain
32. John Hunter Nemechek
33. JJ Yeley
34. Kyle Larson
35. Josh Bilicki
36. Harrison Burton
