NASCAR News: Christopher Bell wins NASCAR All-Star race

No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Christopher Bell celebrated his first victory in the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

On Sunday night, Bell climbed from his car to a standing ovation. Scratch that—virtually everyone in the packed grandstands already had been standing for the final 28 lap green-flag run, as Bell battled Joey Logano side-by-side and finally cleared last year’s winner for the lead on Lap 241 of 250.

At that point, Bell had better right-side tires than Logano, who had stayed out under the promoter’s caution signaled by unofficial flagman Michael Waltrip on Lap 215.

Bell pitted for two tires under the yellow, restarted sixth on Lap 223 behind five cars that stayed out and quickly advanced to second with a pass of Ross Chastain on Lap 227.

From that point, it was game-on for Bell, who pursued Logano relentlessly. On Lap 241, Bell pulled even with Logano, drifted out toward the wall, taking Logano with him and completed the decisive pass. His winning margin was 0.744 seconds.

“North Wilkesboro, how about that one?” Bell shouted after climbing from his car with the smoke still lingering from his celebratory burnout. “That right there is absolutely incredible. North Wilkesboro, best short track on the schedule.”

The victory was the first for a Toyota driver since JGR’s Kyle Busch took the checkered flag in 2017.

Logano, who led 199 of 200 laps in last year’s All-Star Race victory at the historic 0.625-mile short track, led a race-high 139 laps on Sunday to 28 for Bell. The driver of the No. 22 Team Penske Ford held a comfortable lead when the yellow flag for the promoter’s caution—a new wrinkle introduced by Speedway Motorsports CEO Marcus Smith—slowed the action, forced a pit stop choice and bunched the field.

“I’m pissed off right now,” Logano said. “Just dang it, we had the fastest car. The Shell-Pennzoil Mustang was so fast. You get to… I’m trying to choose my words correctly on the caution situation. Obviously, I got bit by it, so I am the one frustrated, obviously….

“I’m all about no gimmicks with the caution. I am all about that. I’m a little… me and Marcus Smith aren’t seeing eye to eye right now, OK? I’ve got to have a word with him.”

The caution and the tire disadvantage ultimately prevented Logano from winning his second straight All-Star Race and third overall.

“Thought maybe we could hold him off, but the 20 had a good enough restart, cleared too many of them too fast,” Logano said. “I couldn’t get away in time. It took me six, seven laps to get my car up and rolling again.

“I did all I could do to hold him off, and he got under me and released the brake and gave me no option. Kind of just ran me up into the wall, and if I could’ve got to him, he was going around after a move like that. I just couldn’t get back to him. Just too much to try to make up with the tire deficit.

“Just frustrated after you lead so many laps and the car is so fast and you don’t win, it hurts quite a bit.”

It hurt even more because first prize money for the exhibition race is $1 million, and second place pays a small fraction of that amount. Bell was happy to line his pockets with the lion’s share of the purse.

It was the quality of the competition, however, that excited Bell the most.

“Man, that was an amazing race,” he said. “There were so many guys up there racing for the lead. We saw two-wide, three-wide for the lead. It’s just a pleasure to race here, and especially whenever you get to drive this Mobil 1 Toyota Camry.

“These boys (the No. 20 crew) have done such a good job on this thing. I told them going into it, this was the best car we’ve had in a long time. Joey was fast. He gave us a lot of competition, and the 12 (Ryan Blaney) was really good there and the 9 (Chase Elliott). They had competitive cars. The strategy—we knew it would be all over the place and it fell our way.”

Bell acknowledged that the urgency of passing Logano in the closing run forced him to push the issue.

“He did a great job of trying to keep me behind him, and I knew that once I got that run off Turn 4, it was like alright, I’m going to have to be a little more aggressive and kind of leaned on him and got him out of position.

“I knew once I got the lead, I had the tire advantage so I should be able to cruise, and it worked out that way.”

On the same tire strategy as Logano, Chastain held third at the finish, followed by Hendrick Motorsports drivers Alex Bowman, Elliott and William Byron. Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Chase Briscoe and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.

Kyle Larson, fresh from Saturday’s 21st-place qualifying effort for the Indianapolis 500, turned his first laps in the No. 5 Chevrolet on Sunday night. After a two-tire stop on Lap 178, he was running third when he slapped the wall on Lap 214 and finished 21st, three laps down.

Carson Hocevar, John Hunter Nemechek transfer from All-Star Open

Carson Hocevar of Spire Motorsports and John Hunter Nemechek of LEGACY Motor Club transferred into the main event as the top two finishers in the All-Star Open.

Hocevar took over the lead when pole winner Shane van Gisbergen opted for four tires under the All-Star Caution at Lap 51. Van Gisbergen had led every lap from the start of the race, but five drivers, including Hocevar, opted for two tires during the stop and beat the New Zealander out of the pits.

When Riley Herbst spun in Turn 3 on Lap 78 to cause the second and final caution, Hocevar stayed out on old tires and pulled away after a Lap 84 restart, beating Nemechek to the finish line by 0.697 seconds.

“It’s great to win, especially being challenged by tires there,” Hocevar said. “I had my hands full. We definitely have to go to work here on our race car, because I didn’t really like it, but it’s a good sign that we didn’t like it and we were still pretty quick there.”

Nemechek, on the other hand, opted for two tires under the yellow and charged from eighth on the restart to second, clearing the Toyota of Bubba Wallace on Lap 90 to claim the second transfer spot.

“We have a shot to go win a million dollars,” Nemechek said. “Hats off to this 42 team. We unloaded and had pretty good two- or three-lap speed, but really no long run pace, so proud of them for the effort that they put in yesterday, and what they were able to find.

“Pitting on that last deal—I knew I couldn’t win from where I was at. We came and got two (tires), and that helped us out.”

Hocevar and Nemechek, both main event rookies, earned the 21st and 22nd starting positions, respectively. The final position in the All-Star Race went to Noah Gragson of Front Row Motorsports, who won the All-Star Fan Vote for the third straight year.

Hocevar finished 11th in the All-Star Race. Gragson was 13th and Nemechek 19th.

Ryan Preece was running second in a strong No. 60 Ford, but he was penalized for running over the V-shaped “choose” symbol on the track a lap before the final restart. Sent to the rear of the field, he had no chance to recover.

Preece said he couldn’t see the orange symbol painted on the track, which had been dulled by rubber laid down in a wild NASCAR Whelan Modified Tour race that preceded the Open.

“You can’t even see it right now,” Preece said. “A rule is a rule. I understand that, but at the end of the day, I made the mistake. I’m just frustrated with the decision.”

The symbol was repainted before the All-Star main event.

NASCAR All-Star Race

1. (2)  Christopher Bell (T), Toyota, 250.
2. (4)  Joey Logano (F), Ford, 250.
3. (3)  Ross Chastain (C), Chevrolet, 250.
4. (9)  Alex Bowman (C), Chevrolet, 250.
5. (6)  Chase Elliott (C), Chevrolet, 250.
6. (5)  William Byron (C), Chevrolet, 250.
7. (13)  Tyler Reddick (T), Toyota, 250.
8. (8)  Kyle Busch (C), Chevrolet, 250.
9. (14)  Chase Briscoe (T), Toyota, 250.
10. (10)  Chris Buescher (F), Ford, 250.
11. (21)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 250.
12. (20)  Denny Hamlin (T), Toyota, 250.
13. (23)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 250.
14. (15)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 250.
15. (17)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 250.
16. (7)  Ryan Blaney (F), Ford, 250.
17. (11)  Josh Berry (F), Ford, 250.
18. (16)  Austin Cindric, Ford, 250.
19. (22)  John Hunter Nemechek (T), Toyota, 250.
20. (18)  Harrison Burton, Ford, 250.
21. (19)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 247.
22. (1)  Brad Keselowski (F), Ford, Accident, 176.
23. (12)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, Accident, 65.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  95.728 mph.

Time of Race:  1 Hrs, 37 Mins, 56 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .829 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  5 for 32 laps.

Lead Changes:  18 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   B. Keselowski (F) 1-5;J. Logano (F) 6;B. Keselowski (F) 7-63;K. Busch (C) 64-65;W. Byron (C) 66-77;J. Logano (F) 78-102;A. Cindric 103;C. Bell (T) 104-119;J. Logano (F) 120;C. Bell (T) 121;J. Logano (F) 122-177;A. Bowman (C) 178;K. Larson 179-182;J. Logano (F) 183;K. Larson 184;J. Logano (F) 185-228;C. Bell (T) 229;J. Logano (F) 230-240;C. Bell (T) 241-250.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Joey Logano (F) 7 times for 139 laps; Brad Keselowski (F) 2 times for 62 laps; Christopher Bell (T) 4 times for 28 laps; William Byron (C) 1 time for 12 laps; Kyle Larson 2 times for 5 laps; Kyle Busch (C) 1 time for 2 laps; Alex Bowman (C) 1 time for 1 lap; Austin Cindric 1 time for 1 lap.

 

NASCAR All-Star Open

1. (2)  Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 100.
2. (8)  John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 100.
3. (10)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 100.
4. (12)  Erik Jones, Toyota, 100.
5. (4)  Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 100.
6. (6)  Zane Smith, Ford, 100.
7. (16)  AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 100.
8. (14)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 100.
9. (11)  Cole Custer, Ford, 100.
10. (13)  Riley Herbst, Toyota, 100.
11. (5)  Ryan Preece, Ford, 100.
12. (17)  Todd Gilliland, Ford, 100.
13. (1)  Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet, 100.
14. (7)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 100.
15. (9)  Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 100.
16. (15)  Cody Ware, Ford, 100.
17. (3)  Noah Gragson, Ford, 100.
18. (18)  Chad Finchum, Ford, 100.

Average Speed of Race Winner:  98.425 mph.

Time of Race:  0 Hrs, 38 Mins, 6 Secs. Margin of Victory:  .697 Seconds.

Caution Flags:  2 for 12 laps.

Lead Changes:  1 among 2 drivers.

Lap Leaders:   S. Van Gisbergen 1-54;C. Hocevar 55-100.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led):  Shane Van Gisbergen 1 time for 54 laps; Carson Hocevar 1 time for 46 laps.