Christopher Bell snatches first Cup Atlanta win in wild overtime
Today at 08:16 PM
Christopher Bell prevailed in overtime to claim the victory in Sunday‘s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway – officially leading only the final lap and getting the photo nod in a three-wide run as a caution flag came out on the last lap to end the NASCAR Cup Series race.
It marks the second year that this race featured a three-wide run to the checkered flag. This time Bell got the nod out front over second-year driver Carson Hocevar and 2021 series champion Kyle Larson as the final caution flag flew. It was the 30-year old Oklahoma native Bell‘s 10th career series victory and first on a drafting-type track like Atlanta, Daytona or Talladega, Ala. It also marked the first victory for Joe Gibbs Racing since June of last year.
"I‘ll tell you what, that right there is what you dream of,” an elated Bell said afterward. "To be able to re-start on the first or second row on a re-start at a speedway you never know how those things are going to play out.
"But,” he added looking directly into the FOX television cameras with a huge smile, "I‘ll be the first to tell you, 'I love superspeedways.‘
"I don‘t know,” he conceded, "but this style of racing has always been a little bit of a struggle for me. Throughout the beginning of the day, obviously today we were just stuck way in the back. But [crew chief] Adam [Stevens] and these boys just did an incredible job of getting this thing fixed up so I could just hold my foot down and you‘ve got to be able to just stay in the throttle and that last half of the race we ran our best.”
Despite his near-miss third-place showing, Larson was pleased with the finish. He‘s 0-for-48 in speedway-type races, including 16 previous DNFs. So all said, it was a successful, if eventful, day. He had contact with one of the race‘s strongest cars, Austin Cindric‘s No. 2 Team Penske with three laps remaining to make the overtime finish necessary, but led 12 laps.
Hocevar‘s runner-up finish was a career high mark for the 22-year old driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet.
However, shortly after the young Californian climbed out of his car, he was confronted post-race by both Ross Chastain and former series champ Ryan Blaney in separate discussions. Although Chastain refused to share what was said, Blaney confirmed he suggested to Hocevar to work on his decision making.
"I just said, 'Hey, you got to calm down. I told him a couple moves he made earlier in the race that were really, really sketchy,” said Blaney, who rallied to a fourth-place finish after being spun out after contact with Hocevar with 27 laps remaining.
"Obviously, me getting spun. He should know better than to hit me in that spot. He can‘t just run into my bumper as I‘m turning into a corner. I‘m going to wreck. So, I just told him you got to calm down. You got a lot of talent, but you got to be a little bit easier in this certain moment. Be smarter.”
Hocevar, who also said he preferred to keep the two conversations with his veteran competitors to himself, but immediately offered an apology for any contact with Larson on the final lap.
"I didn‘t realize we weren‘t racing back to the line,” he said of the last lap fender-rub with Larson, adding, "Some stuff I‘ve got to learn and clean up a little bit, but I feel like we put ourselves in a perfect opportunity to win a race and I‘ve never really had that opportunity before, especially on super speedways. So, thanks to everybody at Spire Motorsports.”
Certainly, the early portion of the race was dominated by the Ford contingent, which included 10 of the top 11 qualifiers including Blaney‘s pole position in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford. Blaney‘s teammate, reigning series champion Joey Logano led a race best 83 laps — the second time in as many races this season he out-paced the field, but finished 12th.
Fords led all but one of the first 140 laps. Ultimately, however, pit strategy and manufacturer alliances — at least early in the race — gave way to late race push and better handle on the cars for the rest of the competition.
The final yellow flag flew to end the race when Josh Berry — who won Stage 1 – Justin Haley and Ryan Preece collided on the backstretch during overtime.
HYAK Motorsports‘ Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished fifth, followed by Denny Hamlin, a strong showing for the veteran who like his JGR teammates all started 25th or worse on the grid.
Richard Childress Racing‘s Kyle Busch was the only one of three cars (also Blaney and defending race winner Daniel Suarez) in last year‘s three-wide photo finish not to be collected in an accident. The two-time series champion finished seventh, followed by Trackhouse Racing‘s Ross Chastain, 23XI Racing‘s Bubba Wallace, and Legacy Motor Club‘s John Hunter Nemechek, who scored his second top-10 finish in as many races this year — already half of his single season high in two previous fulltime seasons at the NASCAR Cup Series level.
With his fourth place showing Sunday, Blaney now leads the championship by 12 points over DAYTONA 500 winner, Hendrick Motorsports‘ William Byron. Kaulig Racing‘s A.J. Allmendinger set the Fastest Lap of the race.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads west for its first road course race of the season, the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix next Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Byron is the defending race winner at Circuit of The Americas.
— NASCAR News Wire —
See the Atlanta race page for complete details.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
