AVONDALE, Ariz. — With fresh tires and a fast car, Christopher Bell rocketed to the front of the field to win the NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix on Sunday.
Bell led 50 laps on Sunday and was easily the best competitor in the late stages of Sunday's United Rentals Work United 500, but had to claw his way to the top spot after pit stop strategy put him in 20th on the race's final restart with around 90 laps to go.
It took just 50 laps for Bell to find the lead. He stayed up front the rest of the way, cruising to his seventh career win, and first of 2024.
"This one feels really good," Bell said after the win. "You don't get cars like that very often. Hopefully, this is the first of many this year."
Chris Buescher finished in second over five seconds behind. Ty Gibbs, Brad Keselowski, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five.
The first two stages of the race ran relatively smoothly. Gibbs, still looking for his first NASCAR Cup Series win, led the first part of the race before Tyler Reddick took command and easily won the first stage.
Reddick was on his way to completely dominate the second stage when Bell surged ahead to pass him in the waning laps.
Besides the stage breaks, the only caution in the first two-thirds of the race was called for a pileup involving Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, and Derek Kraus on lap seven.
When the final stage began, the intensity picked up and several drivers had promising days ruined by wrecks or spins.
Three cautions almost simultaneously happened once the final stage began. The first happened when Kyle Busch spun out on his own — the second happened when John Hunter Nemechek bumped Joey Logano, who spun out and wrecked into Corey LaJoie, Zane Smith, and Kraus — and the last one happened when Denny Hamlin spun out by himself while fighting for the lead.
The trio of cautions caused teams to start strategizing for track position. Many drivers either stayed out or took just two tires after the final caution, trapping several lead drivers like Bell, Reddick, and Chase Elliott behind a large field of cars.
Martin Truex Jr. led at the restart and initially seemed to have made the right call. That was until no more cautions waved and he was forced to pit under green. Truex rebounded to finish seventh.
Bell navigated his way around everyone using his fresher tires. He reached second place in just over 40 laps and regained the top spot when Truex pitted with 40 to go.
From there, Bell didn't break a sweat and easily won. It's the first win of the season for Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. Chevrolet cars won the first three races.
Phoenix will be home to the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race for the fifth time in November. Bell has been a championship competitor twice in the race, finishing 10th in 2022 — third among championship drivers — and 36th in 2023 — fourth among championship drivers.
The NASCAR Cup Series is next in action at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bell is the defending winner.
