Christopher Bell after winning the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. (HHP/Chris Owens)
BRISTOL, Tenn. — Christopher Bell used his polished dirt background to his advantage on Easter Sunday to score NASCAR Cup Series victory in the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Bell, aboard the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, led 100 of the 250 laps of the 0.533-mile, provisional gravel track to claim his fifth career win. Bell gave JGR their first win of the 2023 season.
“Man, those were some of the longest laps of my life,” Bell said. “This place is so much fun, whether it’s dirt or concrete, and whenever the cushion came up up there, it was really, really hard because you couldn’t ride it super hard or you’d get sucked in.
“If you got in with your right front you would push a little, and if you got in with your right back you would slide. It was just a lot of fun, but I’m just so grateful to be here and driving this #20 DeWalt Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. That was a lot of fun.”
In what was becoming a classic race on dirt with elbows up, Bell held off late attacks from the likes of 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe.
Bell grabs the checkered flag after winning Bristol. (HHP/Tim Parks)
The final restart came with eight laps to go after a spin by Kyle Busch triggered the 13th caution of the night.
Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney chose the inside lane at the restart, below leader Bell. However, en route to Turn One, Blaney was spun by an opportunistic Briscoe, allowing the No. 20 to pull a gap.
While Reddick would close within half a second, it would not be enough as Bell would sail to the checkered flag.
“It was honestly a lot of fun and very intense,” said Reddick. “Towards the end I definitely felt like I had a little bit more edge and there in the last few laps I thought I found it. Just hate it for everyone on this SiriusXM Toyota Camry TRD. I just had to be a little bit closer than me.
“Maybe I could have gotten this train going with two to go. Obviously we wanted to finish third and fourth on the white flag lap, but we’ll never know if it would have worked. Still a good setback for us. We thought the track would take a different direction than it did as the race progressed. In the end, our strategy wasn’t the best, but that was on me.”
Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon brought home the famous #3 Chevrolet in third place, with Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finishing fourth.
Briscoe’s No. 14 would cross the line in fifth after the 28-year-old battled a hand injury in both the Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Saturday night. Briscoe suffered a broken middle finger on his left hand Thursday while riding a Dirt Late Model.
When it happened
Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson started from pole position for the Food City Dirt Race, which dominated the opening stage from start to finish.
The first warning flag would fly on Lap 11, with Bubba Wallace losing control at Turn Two and catching reigning Cup Series Champion Joey Logano. Both drivers would continue with minimal damage.
On the final lap of stage one, Josh Berry was slammed into Denny Hamlin, resulting in a pile-up at turn four.
Larson would win stage one under caution, having led every lap.
During the stage break, a few teams opted to stay out, including Reddick, Wallace and Martin Truex Jr.
Shortly after the start of stage two, the first of several collisions broke out between Larson and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece. On lap 79, while fighting for position, Larson crushed Preece’s No. 41 Ford and sent the 32-year-old into the wall.
After a spin by Jonathan Davenport two laps later, Preece visibly showed his displeasure with the number 5 driver under the yellow flag.
Preece spun while going eighth and flashed the warning lights on lap 103.
Later, Reddick held off Dillon to win the second phase of action.
Bell and Briscoe were among the riders who stayed out during the stage break after the pit stop before the end of stage two and lined up on the front row for the start of stage three.
With 76 laps to go, Preece Larson’s door slammed shut, throwing last week’s winner backwards against the wall. Larson’s race would be over and the HMS driver would finish 35th after 75 laps in the lead.
With Bell at the helm, the battle for second place between Briscoe and Reddick turned heated with just 27 laps to go. Briscoe touched the wall while driving alongside the #45 Toyota. No caution would be indicated, but Briscoe would begin to trim positions.
The final warning of the day with a spinning bush would put Bell and Blaney in the front row.
After Briscoe got Blaney spinning in the restart, Bell cleared the field and stayed in the lead for the win.
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