No. 1 again: Christopher Bell scores second consecutive victory with COTA triumph

Today at 07:41 PM

Christopher Bell held off William Byron and Tyler Reddick in the final laps to win Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, giving him back-to-back Cup victories.

Last weekend, Bell led only the final lap in winning at Atlanta. Sunday, Bell passed Kyle Busch with six laps to go and withstood the pressure from those behind to score his 11th career win and third on a road course.

This is Bell's fourth consecutive season with multiple wins. He is the first driver to win two of the first three races of a season since Kevin Harvick did it in 2018. Bell will go for three in a row next weekend at Phoenix. He won last spring's race there.

That wasn't an immediate concern Sunday. He was just enjoying his victory.

"These road course races are just so much fun," Bell told Fox in Victory Lane.

Byron finished second. Reddick placed third. Chase Elliott rallied to finish fourth after he was spun on the first corner of the first lap by Ross Chastain. Busch, who led a race-high 42 laps, fell to fifth. Shane van Gisbergen placed sixth.

Bell shadowed Busch for several laps late in the race, trying to get by him without knocking him out of the way. They had had contact entering the essess on Lap 90 of the 95-lap race but Busch stayed ahead. Bell continued to pressure him and got by him in Turn 20, a left-hand turn that leads to the frontstretch.

Busch, who was on older tires than those around him, fell back. Tires were key for Bell. He had fresher tires than those around him, making his last stop at Lap 71. Byron and Reddick pitted at Lap 68. Busch pitted at Lap 69.

Sunday's result moved Byron, the Daytona 500 winner, into the points lead three races into the regular season.

Eighteen-year-old Connor Zilisch, making his Cup debut, finished last in the 37-car field after he couldn't avoid the spinning car of Tracking Racing teammate Daniel Suarez. The contact eliminated both.

Incident ends Connor Zilisch's eventful NASCAR Cup debut at COTA

Eighteen-year-old Connor Zilisch finished last a day after winning the Xfinity race at COTA.

Dustin Long,

Dustin Long,

Stage 1 winner: Bubba Wallace

Stage 2 winner: Ryan Preece

Next: The series races at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, March 9 at Phoenix Raceway on FS1

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