AVONDALE, Ariz. — Christopher Bell and the rest of Joe Gibbs Racing have experienced a lot of sadness in the desert.
Two years ago in Phoenix, the team's vice chairman and owner Joe Gibbs' son died unexpectedly. Last fall, Bell's hopes for winning the NASCAR Cup Series championship in the Valley of the Sun were ruined by a broken brake rotor.
Victory at Phoenix Raceway will not make the pain disappear, but it is definitely a step in the healing process.
Bell took the lead when Martin Truex Jr. had to pit and went on to win an emotional NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday.
“This win feels really good,” Bell said. “You don’t get cars like that very often, as you know. Just super, super proud to be on this 20 car.”
JGR has gone through a mix of emotions in Phoenix.
In 2022, shortly after Ty Gibbs won an Xfinity season championship for his grandfather’s team, vice chairman Coy Gibbs was found dead in his hotel room. Ty’s father was 49.
Bell and JGR returned to Phoenix Raceway in November as part of the championship four vying for the Cup Series title. Instead of mending emotions, the team left dejected after Bell’s car broke early in the race.
Given another chance, Bell controlled his emotions and the crew provided him with the fastest car on a perfect afternoon in the desert that ended with a huge celebration in victory lane.
“It is a little bit cathartic,” Bell’s crew chief Adam Stevens said.
Bell’s victory in the No. 20 Toyota also ended Chevrolet’s flawless start to the season after winning the first three races. He is the eighth different winner in eight races at Phoenix Raceway’s mile tri-oval.
Chris Buescher finished second after crashing 27 laps into last week’s race in Las Vegas and Ty Gibbs finished third, a career-best. Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney completed the top five.
“We had a tough time last week,” Buescher said. “It was good to show everyone that we’re in this together and we’re going to win as a team.”
The Phoenix race was the introduction of NASCAR's new aerodynamics package for short tracks, aiming to create more passing on tracks of a mile or less and road courses. Goodyear also produced tires with thicker treads designed to retain heat and increase lap-time falloff.
Starting 13th, Bell took advantage of the changes, overcoming a slow pit stop to return to the front. Bell moved into the lead with 40 laps to go when leader Truex had to pit for fuel and tires.
Bell led the final 49 laps for his seventh career Cup Series victory — first since Homestead in October.
“I drove a rocket ship today,” Bell said. “It just took off.”
Truex and his crew made a calculated gamble on lap 217, choosing to stay out when most of the leaders went into the pits.
The JGR driver stayed in the lead, hoping he would have enough fuel and his tires would hold out long enough to reach the checkered flag. This did not happen and Truex was forced to pit. He finished seventh.
HAMLIN SPINS
Pole sitter Denny Hamlin took advantage of having the first stall to twice take the lead out of the pits, but ran into trouble with about 100 laps left.
Hamlin's car got loose while trying to pass Reddick, causing a caution and sending most of the cars to the pits. After a pit stop, Hamlin fell to 23rd and finished 11th.
Hamlin explained, 'I went too deep and tried to avoid wrecking him, but it ended up causing our own wreck.'
CINDRIC’S TOUGH BREAK
Austin Cindric had an early end to his day, following a spinout the previous week in Las Vegas.
Cindric completed six laps at Phoenix Raceway before being involved in a wreck with Austin Dillon and Derek Kraus. While Dillon and Kraus returned to the track, Cindric's car was too damaged.
Cindric finished 29th in Las Vegas and was in contention at the Daytona 500 before being caught up in a late wreck.
Cindric said, 'It felt like I got hit twice. I knew the 3 (Dillon) was on the inside, but I thought he would fall back, yet he came back up. It's a result of not qualifying well.'
UP NEXT
The Cup Series moves to Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee next weekend.
