NASCAR News: Bell wins Bristol Cup night race

Christopher Bell surged from fifth to first in the final four laps of Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, keeping Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota undefeated in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Despite a hard hit to his rear bumper from Brad Keselowski in the last corner, Bell held firm, crossing the finish line 0.343 seconds ahead of the Roush Fenway Keselowski co-owner and driver.

Bell’s victory secured his spot in the Round of 12, joining JGR teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin as Round of 16 winners. The next round begins September 21 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, one of Bell’s strongest tracks.

The race eliminated four drivers from the Playoffs: Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, and Josh Berry. Bowman came closest to advancing, finishing 10 points shy of Austin Cindric, the final Round of 12 qualifier.

Fresh off a frustrating seventh-place finish at World Wide Technology Raceway, where he criticized his team’s strategy, Bell rebounded with his fourth win of the season, his first at Bristol, and the 13th of his career. On Lap 497, with fresh right-side tires from a Lap 491 pit stop, Bell overtook the lead and fended off Keselowski, who ran four new tires but couldn’t close the gap.

Goodyear’s softer right-side tires caused unexpected wear, catching drivers and crews off guard. “I was nervous on those tires,” Bell admitted. “Old tires pushed up in the corners, but I got underneath the guys ahead of me. It wasn’t pretty at the end, but we got it done.”

Keselowski, who led 201 laps, lamented his choice of the top lane on the final restart. “We had a great car and strategy, but I picked the wrong lane,” he said. “It’s been that kind of season.”

Bell’s teammate Ty Gibbs led a race-high 201 laps but slipped to 10th after overshooting his pit stall on the final green-flag stop. Briscoe, who led 127 laps, finished ninth after a late tire change. Non-Playoff driver Zane Smith took third, followed by title contenders Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. Part-timer Corey Heim earned a career-best sixth, with non-Playoff driver Carson Hocevar and Bowman rounding out the top eight.

Eliminations were largely decided early. Josh Berry’s race ended on Lap 75 when smoke from his No. 21 Ford’s right-front wheel well forced him out, marking his third consecutive last-place finish. “We’ve been up front and qualified well, but issues keep hitting us,” Berry said, citing a fire at Bristol, a crash at Darlington, and contact at the previous race.

Austin Dillon, starting 11 points below the cut line, battled tire issues and a pit road speeding penalty, finishing 28th and missing the Round of 12 by 14 points. Shane van Gisbergen, 15 points back at the start, spun after contact with William Byron and finished 26th, 16 points short of Cindric.

Bowman mounted the only real challenge among those below the cut line. After spinning on Lap 100, he rallied to third in Stage 2, closing to within 11 points of Ross Chastain for the final transfer spot. “Our car was strong in green-flag runs but struggled on restarts,” Bowman said. “I’m proud of the fight, but we couldn’t figure out the restarts.”

Chastain finished 19th to hold his Round of 12 spot, while Cindric survived a late scare when his right-front wheel well caught fire, costing him five laps. Chase Elliott crashed on Lap 311 after contact with John Hunter Nemechek but advanced on points, joined by Blaney, Byron, Larson, Wallace, Reddick, and Logano.

The Round of 12 kicks off Sunday with the Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where Bell aims to defend his 2024 victory.

Christopher Bell

Christopher, walk me through that restart and how you were able to get the lead so quickly.

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Well, I’ll tell you what, I was nervous on the twos. I didn’t know if I wanted to be on the bottom or the top, and whenever Brad picked the top didn’t really give me an option. I had to pick the bottom.

All night long, I don’t know, old tires just really, really pushed up in the middle of the corners, so I was hoping that those guys on old tires would push up, and they did. They did, and I was able to get by or get underneath them.

It wasn’t pretty there at the end, but we got her done. Most importantly, this week has obviously been a very tough week, and there’s a lot on our mind. This one is for Charlie.

I want to ask you about the tough week for the race team, too. You had some very pointed words after the race at St. Louis. How did this team rally to be able to pull this off tonight?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: We just know that any week, any given week, it could be us, and it hadn’t been us for a long time. But Bristol, baby, tonight it’s us!

NASCAR Cup Series Race – Bass Pro Shops Night Race Results

1. (9)  Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 500.
2. (18)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 500.
3. (24)  Zane Smith, Ford, 500.
4. (2)  Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 500.
5. (22)  Joey Logano (P), Ford, 500.
6. (38)  Corey Heim(i), Toyota, 500.
7. (12)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 500.
8. (15)  Alex Bowman (P), Chevrolet, 500.
9. (31)  Chase Briscoe (P), Toyota, 500.
10. (4)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 500.
11. (21)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 500.
12. (7)  William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 500.
13. (17)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 500.
14. (19)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 499.
15. (14)  Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 499.
16. (32)  Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 499.
17. (25)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 499.
18. (29)  Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 499.
19. (13)  Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 499.
20. (27)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 499.
21. (20)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 499.
22. (11)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 499.
23. (30)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 498.
24. (36)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 498.
25. (33)  Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 497.
26. (28)  Shane Van Gisbergen # (P), Chevrolet, 497.
27. (37)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 497.
28. (23)  Austin Dillon (P), Chevrolet, 496.
29. (34)  Cody Ware, Ford, 496.
30. (3)  Austin Cindric (P), Ford, 496.
31. (6)  Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 495.
32. (5)  Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 495.
33. (26)  Cole Custer, Ford, 488.
34. (8)  Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, Accident, 487.
35. (39)  Chad Finchum, Ford, Brakes, 458.
36. (1)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, Steering, 408.
37. (35)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 364.
38. (16)  Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 311.
39. (10)  Josh Berry (P), Ford, Brakes, 75.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  69.686 mph.

Time of Race:  3 Hrs, 48 Mins, 10 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .343 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  14 for 137 laps.

Lead Changes:  36 among 14 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   A. Allmendinger 1-23;T. Gibbs 24-30;R. Blaney (P) 31-48;A. Cindric (P) 49-56;R. Blaney (P) 57-62;T. Gibbs 63-123;R. Blaney (P) 124-129;A. Allmendinger 130;T. Gibbs 131-137;*. Wallace (P) 138-141;T. Gibbs 142-209;C. Hocevar 210;A. Cindric (P) 211-212;A. Bowman (P) 213-216;C. Hocevar 217-227;T. Gibbs 228-240;A. Bowman (P) 241;R. Stenhouse Jr. 242-246;T. Gibbs 247-276;C. Briscoe (P) 277-323;*. Wallace (P) 324-331;C. Briscoe (P) 332-356;C. Bell (P) 357;D. Hamlin (P) 358-360;C. Briscoe (P) 361-415;T. Gibbs 416-430;C. Bell (P) 431-436;B. Keselowski 437-438;*. Smith 439-442;J. Logano (P) 443-449;B. Keselowski 450-465;C. Hocevar 466-474;*. Smith 475;B. Keselowski 476-490;C. Bell (P) 491;C. Hocevar 492-496;C. Bell (P) 497-500.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Ty Gibbs 7 times for 201 laps; Chase Briscoe (P) 3 times for 127 laps; Brad Keselowski 3 times for 33 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 3 times for 30 laps; Carson Hocevar 4 times for 26 laps; AJ Allmendinger 2 times for 24 laps; * Bubba Wallace (P) 2 times for 12 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 4 times for 12 laps; Austin Cindric (P) 2 times for 10 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 7 laps; * Zane Smith 2 times for 5 laps; Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 1 time for 5 laps; Alex Bowman (P) 2 times for 5 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 1 time for 3 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 12,54,24,23,38,17,16,6,42,47

Stage #2 Top Ten: 54,12,48,6,77,2,17,23,38,11