Phoenix Raceway

There were so many variables in Christopher Bell’s victory in Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway that it’s difficult to pinpoint the determinative factor.

First, Toyota introduced a new body style in the NASCAR Cup Series this season. Second, NASCAR debuted a new short-track competition package in Sunday’s race. Third, the Toyotas unloaded for Friday’s 50-minute practice with consistent speed—allowing them to test their long-run prowess.

That combination of factors conjured up a decisive victory for Bell at a track where Toyota drivers had led a total of 15 laps in four Next-Gen-era races combined.

Bell and his Camry compatriots turned that statistic upside down on Sunday, combining to lead 298 of 312 laps. After Denny Hamlin started from the pole position, all four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers led significant numbers of laps—Hamlin with 68, Ty Gibbs with 57, Martin Truex Jr. with 55 and Bell with 50.

Tyler Reddick, a 23XI Toyota driver, contributed 68 laps led, as Bell ended Chevrolet’s three-race winning streak to start the season.

And while some drivers had difficulty in dirty air, Bell’s No. 20 Camry had no trouble passing cars, coming from 20^th on a restart on Lap 221 to claim the lead and beat Ford driver and runner-up Chris Buescher to the finish line by a distant 5.465 seconds.

“Man, this one feels really good,” said Bell, who was eliminated from last year’s Championship 4 race at Phoenix when his brake rotor exploded. “Just a credit to (crew chief) Adam (Stevens), man. Adam, my engineers… all the mechanics on this thing.

“You don’t get cars like that very often, as you know. Just super, super proud. Proud to be on this 20 car. This Rheem Camry was amazing today. I feel like we have capability of running races like this a lot. Hopefully, this is the first of many this year.”

The victory was Bell’s first at Phoenix and the seventh of his career.

Divergent pit strategies under the sixth and final caution for Hamlin’s spin in Turn 2 on Lap 215—as he broke loose to the inside of Reddick’s car while fighting for the lead—scrambled the running order, with Truex and eight other drivers staying on track while the rest of the field came to pit road.

With the final 92 laps running caution-free, Truex had to pit for fuel and tires on Lap 272, surrendering the lead to Bell, who held it the rest of the way.

After crashing out in 37^th place last Sunday at Las Vegas, Buescher was happy with his solid second-place run.

“I didn’t quite see the 20 (Bell) there at the end, so I know they were lights-out,” Buescher said. “We have some work to do to get to that point. What thrills me is we were by no means perfect on balance, so we have a lot of room to make this thing better, which is awesome.”

Gibbs, who regained track position with a two-tire pit stop on Lap 218, came home third, a career-best finish. Brad Keselowski ran fourth, two spots behind his Roush Fenway Keselowski teammate; and reigning Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney came home fifth, ending a streak of three straight runner-up finishes at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert.

Ross Chastain, a Phoenix winner last November, was sixth, and Truex worked his way through the field on fresher tires to finish seventh. Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe and Reddick completed the top 10. Hamlin finished 11^th after his Lap 215 spin.

Blaney overtook 14^th-place finisher Kyle Larson for the series lead. He leaves Phoenix 10 points ahead of Larson and Truex, who are tied for second in the standings.

Notes: Chastain was the only Chevrolet driver to finish in the top 12… The only non-Toyota driver to lead laps was Todd Gilliland, who ran long in his Front Row Motorsports Ford during a cycle of green-flag pit stops in Stage 2 and held the top spot for 14 circuits… Reddick won the first stage, and Bell claimed victory in the second stage.

Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick hate late-race cautions.

William Byron loves them.

After a two-tire call under the fourth caution flag in Sunday’s United Rentals Work United 500 at Phoenix Raceway, Byron surged past Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson in overtime to win his second straight NASCAR Cup Series race.

Byron can thank Ford drivers Aric Almirola and Harrison Burton, who on successive weekends spun with a handful of laps left—at Las Vegas and Phoenix, respectively—and gave Byron a chance to capitalize on the opportunity.

As a result, Byron had his second victory of the season and a guaranteed ticket into the Cup Series Playoff. The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet won for the first time at Phoenix and for the sixth time in his career.

Byron credited crew chief Rudy Fugle with the two-tire call that got him out front with a chance to win.

"Owe the last couple weeks to him," said Byron, who also won at Las Vegas on two fresh tires. "He’s done a really good job strategy-wise, and execution-wise we’ve done a good job to put ourselves in those positions on the front row with a shot at the end.

"Thanks to everybody back at Hendrick Motorsports, putting together great cars, doing a great job.This is a big credit to them, engine shop, (team owner Rick) Hendrick, everybody."

Harvick leaves his best track with a mountain of frustration as tall as spectator-friendly Rattlesnake Hill at the east end of the 1.0-mile speedway. That he posted his 20th straight top 10 at Phoenix—a NASCAR Cup record for a single track—was of scant consolation.

"It’s what I would have done," Harvick said of crew chief Rodney Childers’ four-tire call. "I’d always rather be on offense. I just didn’t get a couple cars when that first caution came out. Kind of lost our chance. Still thought I had a chance there at the end. Those cars were quite a bit slower. They get all jammed up.

"That’s the way it goes. Just smoked ’em up until the caution. They did a great job with our Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang. Didn’t need the caution at the end."

Harvick had a commanding lead when Burton spun at the start/finish line on Lap 302 of 312. Harvick took four new tires on the ensuing pit stop but came out seventh behind Larson, Byron, Ryan Blaney, Ross Chastain, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin—all of whom opted for two tires.

Larson took the lead on a Lap 310 restart, but an accident on the backstretch involving Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs and AJ Allmendinger forced overtime, and Byron grabbed the lead after the restart on Lap 316.

Blaney and Tyler Reddick, who had taken four tires, also got past Larson during the two-lap overtime to finish second and third, with Larson holding fourth. Harvick came home fifth after leading 36 laps.

For the first two stages, it appeared Larson and Byron would decide the race between them. Byron grabbed the lead from his teammate on Lap 2 and held it thought the end of Stage 1 on Lap 60. During the stage break, Larson regained the top spot under caution, taking advantage of the No. 1 pit stall he earned for winning the pole on Saturday.

Larson dominated the second stage on the way to leading a race-high 201 laps. But Harvick beat Byron off pit road for the second position during the Stage 2 break and kept Larson in his sights. After an exchange of green-flag pit stops that saw Harvick gain considerable ground, Harvick closed on Larson.

With NASCAR’s new lower-downforce competition package in use for the first time, the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet struggled in traffic, and Harvick closed in. When Larson had difficulty passing Justin Haley and Austin Cindric in succession, Harvick was on his bumper.

On Lap 269, Harvick made the pass for the lead and pulled away to an advantage of nearly four seconds before Burton’s spin slowed the field.

Though Larson held the lead after one late restart, the second time proved the charm for Byron. For the second straight week Larson was frustrated. At Las Vegas, he lost a big lead when Almirola hit the wall. At Phoenix, he was mad at himself.

"Restarts are just tough," Larson said. "I felt like I ran William up pretty high. I was expecting him to lose some grip. But he did a really good job of holding it to my outside, clearing me down the back.

"Yeah, I’m pissed off. Great fight by the team, great car—way better than we were here last year. Yeah, I mean, it’s a long season, but hopefully we’re in the Final 4 (Championship 4 race) when we come back here in November and can have a run similar to that with speed and try to execute a little bit better at the end."

Christopher Bell ran sixth, and defending race winner Chase Briscoe finished seventh after a slow start. Kyle Busch was eighth, and Hendrick drivers Alex Bowman and Josh Berry (subbing for injured Chase Elliott) were ninth and 10^th.

Chevrolet drivers have won all four Cup races this season.

It was the perfect ending to a season Joey Logano started with a win.

Dominating the action in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway, Logano started on the pole, won the first stage, led a race-high 187 laps, won the race and claimed his second series championship (2018, 2022).

Logano joins two-time champion Kyle Busch as only the second active driver in the series to hold more than one title. The victory was his fourth of the season, his third at Phoenix and the 31st of his career in his 507th Cup start.

Back in February, Logano won the competitive debut of NASCAR's Next Gen car in the exhibition Clash at the Coliseum in Los Angeles. On Sunday, in a sprawling desert city some 370 miles to the east of L.A., he put the finishing touch on a dream season.

Logano finished .301 seconds ahead of Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney. Championship 4 contender Ross Chastain was closing fast in the final laps and came home third, 1.268 seconds behind Logano on the track and one spot behind the driver of the No. 22 Ford in the final standings.

"We did it!" exulted Logano, the first Ford active driver to hold two championships since David Pearson in 1968-1969. "We're champions again-yes! Oh, my God, I'm so excited. Thank you to everybody, my team. You guys are amazing. Gave me a good race car, good pit stop there at the end, got us up in front. Boy, that was just intense there at the end.

"It's all about championships. That's what it's all about, and we worked so hard the last couple weeks trying to put ourselves in position."

Logano restarted third on Lap 280 after hard contact between the cars of Alex Bowman and Michael McDowell caused the sixth and final caution of the day. Three laps later he passed Chase Briscoe for the lead and opened a lead of nearly three seconds over Chastain, who was pursuing from third place.

Chastain had the faster car in the final 20 laps but ran out of time.

"I had a car fast enough to chase him down at the end," Chastain said. "I think we did everything we could. That was a heck of a drive for us."

A disastrous 19.8-second pit stop under caution on lap 271 cost Championship 4 driver Christopher Bell an opportunity to contend for the win. Bell restarted 16th with 33 laps remaining and worked his way up to 10th at the finish.

"We fought hard, and at the end of the race... (until) the last pit stop, or what we thought was going to be the last pit stop, we were right there battling for it," Bell said. "I'm just proud to be in this position, proud to be at Joe Gibbs Racing and race this No. 20 car. We were there, and hopefully, we can come back here next year.

"The 22 (Logano) was lights-out all weekend. The best car definitely won the championship."

Chase Elliott, the 2020 series champion, wasn't in position to race for the title after Lap 205. In a wild restart, Elliott's No. 9 Chevrolet spun off the nose of Chastain's No. 1 Chevrolet and slammed sideways into the interior SAFER barrier in the dogleg of the one-mile speedway.

Elliott lost a lap in the pits under repairs and lost another on the track on Lap 230. He finished 28th, two laps down, but he scrupulously avoided laying blame for the incident after the race.

"Yeah, just disappointed, obviously, ended our day and ended our chance at a win or a championship," Elliott said. "Just disappointing."

Chastain, on the other hand, provided his in-depth analysis of the wreck. 

"William (Byron) didn't get going quite as well as he wanted to, and I got to the left of him," Chastain said. "And I saw an erratic move he (Elliott) made to cover it, and I was already there. Yeah, it's not how I want to race him or those guys."

Ford drivers Chase Briscoe and Kevin Harvick finished fourth and fifth, respectively, followed by William Byron, Kyle Busch (in his final trip for Joe Gibbs Racing), Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and Bell. 

Before the race, Bell received the news that Coy Gibbs, vice chairman of Joe Gibbs Racing, son of team owner Joe Gibbs and father of NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Ty Gibbs, had passed away in his sleep hours after seeing his son wrap up the title.

"All of a sudden you wake up this morning and you are racing for a championship, and you are happy, you are elated, and then your world comes crashing down," Bell said. "Whenever you get news like that, it puts it in perspective that there is more to this than racing. The whole Gibbs family is in all of our prayers. I'm thinking of them."

There was no shortage of motivation as three drivers all vying for their first-career victory in the marquee NASCAR Cup Series decided the dramatic outcome at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon.

Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe had to hold off the field on not one, not two, but three late race restarts on the one-mile desert oval, including the final restart with three laps remaining to earn his first career NASCAR Cup Series win in the Ruoff Mortgage 500.

The 27-year-old Briscoe is the 200th different winner in NASCAR's premier series and last year's Rookie of the Year earned the victory- by .771-seconds over Ross Chastain – in only his 40th start.

"It's unbelievable," said Briscoe, who drives the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

"I was crying the whole last lap. This is definitely a team win, but I've got to thank everybody that's got me to this point. Just seven years ago I was sleeping on couches, volunteering at race shops and was literally driving home to give up.

"Unbelievable," he continued, smiling. "So blessed to be here driving for this organization this team and this car that was my hero's (NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart) growing up.

"To everybody that's believed in me, it's unbelievable."

Fast pit stops for Briscoe's John Klausmeier-led crew helped all day. His 101 laps out front was second only to pole-winner Ryan Blaney's 144 laps led. But Briscoe certainly had to earn this win on track holding off the field on those late race re-starts with cars sometimes fanning out seven-wide in the frenetic shuffle to the front.

Chevrolet drivers Chastain and Tyler Reddick took Briscoe three-wide on the final restart – all fueled by the motivation of that first win, but Briscoe's Ford was able to drive away leaving them to settle runner-up between themselves.

Chastain's runner-up finish is his second consecutive top-three finish for the Trackhouse Racing organization. Richard Childress Racing's Reddick placed third followed by polesitter, Penske Racing's Ryan Blaney and 23XI Racing's Kurt Busch.

"That was so much fun to get to race like that at this level," Chastain said, adding of the last lap competition, "That's so cool to race with Tyler and Chase. That's everything I've ever wanted."

Briscoe's veteran teammate Kevin Harvick finished sixth and that top-10 was good enough to tie a huge mark of success shared only by two NASCAR Hall of Famers. Harvick's 18th consecutive top-10 at Phoenix matches an all-time NASCAR Cup Series record set by both Richard Petty and the late Dale Earnhardt at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway.

Another former series champion, Kyle Busch finished seventh leading the Joe Gibbs Racing charge. Penske Racing's Joey Logano, Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez and Roush-Fenway-Keselowski driver Chris Buescher rounded out the top-10 respectively.

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, who ran up front for much of the race, suffered a DNF – pitting with 74 laps remaining with what his crew diagnosed as a broken valve spring in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Larson was officially scored 34th – the second sub-30th place finish of the season, including a crash at the Daytona 500 (32nd place finish).

Larson already scored a victory at Auto Club Speedway this season, however, and is still ranked fourth in the championship, 10 points behind new leader Logano. Kyle Busch is third, five points back.

Both Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron and Penske's Blaney earned their first Stage wins of the season. There were 15 lead changes among six drivers.

At the end of an almost mythical season came the quintessential story of redemption.

Taking advantage of an opportune caution and a blazingly fast pit stop by his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crew, Larson held off Martin Truex Jr. during a 24-lap green-flag run to the finish in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race.

The victory—Larson's 10th of the season and the 10th at a track where he had never won before—made a deserving series champion of the 29-year-old Californian, who honed his racing skills in open-wheeled cars on dirt.

As Larson slowed his car for the cool-down lap, the tears started flowing.

"I can't... I cannot believe it," Larson said after climbing from his car. "I didn't even think I'd be racing a Cup car a year and a half ago. To win a championship is crazy. I've got to say first-off thank you so much to (team owner) Rick Hendrick, Hendrickcars.com, Jeff Gordon, NASCAR, every single one of my supporters in the stands, watching at home and my family.

"There were so many points in this race where I did not think we were going to win. Without my pit crew on that last stop (on Lap 285), we would not be standing right here. They are the true winners of this race. They are true champions. I'm just blessed to be a part of this group. Every single man and woman at Hendrick Motorsports, this win is for all of us, and every one of you.v"This is unbelievable. I'm speechless."

This was the Kyle Larson who watched last year's Cup championship race from afar after drawing a suspension from NASCAR and losing his ride with Chip Ganassi Racing for using a racial slur during a non-NASCAR-related virtual race in April 2020.

But after Larson did yeoman work to earn reinstatement, team owner Rick Hendrick hired the virtuoso driver, who won 46 dirt races in multiple divisions during his absence from NASCAR.

Hendrick's decision paid immediate dividends and culminated in the 14th series championship for the organization (series-most).

Until Lap 282 of 312, however, Larson's chances of victory were all but nonexistent. He was fourth among the Championship 4 drivers and trailing Truex, the leader at the time, by more than four seconds.

But on the lap that changed the race, the brakes in David Starr's exploded and dropped a rotor in the low lane in Turn 3. Under the resulting the caution, the ninth of the race, Larson's crew performed its second-fastest stop of the year and got Larson off pit road in the lead from pit stall No. 1, which the driver had earned by winning the pole during Saturday's qualifying.

Larson restarted from the outside on Lap 289 with Hamlin beside him. Truex, who lost two positions on pit road, lined up behind Larson, with defending Chase Elliott to his inside. Larson surged into the lead, and Truex followed, passing Hamlin.

Truex contested the lead early in the run before Larson established a more comfortable margin. But Truex was closing at the finish and was just .398 seconds behind when Larson crossed the stripe for the final time to earn the 16th victory of his career.

"I don't know what the caution was for, but just untimely caution for us and lost two spots on pit road, and that was the race," Truex said. "Twenty (laps) to go, you're not going to pass one of the fastest cars out there. We just didn't have the short-run speed all day, and then certainly with 20 to go, it's going to be hard to pass anybody out front in clean air.

"I think if we would have had the lead, we could have held him off. But hindsight is 20-20, and we didn't have the lead, so here we are. Really proud of our team and our season. Come in here once again as underdogs and had a shot at it, so that was fun."

Before the Lap 282 caution Hamlin's No. 11 Joe Gibbs racing Toyota was closing on Truex, but the yellow flag foiled a well-executed game plan by Hamlin's team.

"I really liked where we were at with about 25 to go," said Hamlin, who came home third in front of Ryan Blaney and Elliott. "We were just exceptional in the long run, which wasn't too surprising, but started running the 19 (Truex) back down there and got within a couple car lengths, and obviously that debris caution changed a lot.

"Special congrats to Larson and his team. Those guys, any time you can win 10 races in a year, you're absolutely a deserving champion. They did a great job on the last pit stop and got him out there, and it was just set sail after that."

Had he won, the 25-year-old Elliott would have become the youngest driver to win multiple Cup championships, but his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet didn't have either the track position or the necessary speed in the final run.

"I felt like our NAPA Chevy was really good, and I thought our team did a really good job preparing this week," said Elliott, who led 94 laps, second only to Larson's 107. "I was really proud of our group. I thought we brought a really good car and did a lot of things that we were wanting to do today. Just didn't work out, and the sequence of the way all that went certainly was unfortunate for us.

"But look, proud of our team, a lot to build on, and also congrats to Kyle and (crew chief) Cliff (Daniels). What an amazing season. Very, very deserving champions, and glad to see Kyle have success. When you're a good driver and a good person, and you surround yourself with good people, success is warranted. It's good to see that.

"But we'll be back stronger next year and try to give them a run."

Martin Truex Jr. overcame an early-race brush with the wall and took the lead on the final restart with 25 laps remaining to earn his first victory of 2021 and first in 31 career starts at Phoenix Raceway.

Truex's No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota ultimately held off Joey Logano's No. 22 Penske Racing Ford by a convincing 1.698-seconds for the win in the Instacart 500. The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Truex took the race lead from the outside on a bold restart move - pulling away in the closing laps of a spirited race that featured 22 lead changes.

Truex, 40, of New Jersey, is now the fifth different winner in as many NASCAR Cup Series races this season joining Michael McDowell, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Kyle Larson who have also earned spots in the Playoffs.

"Just an awesome job by everybody, [crew chief] James [Small], all the pit crew guys fixing it, just really solid," said Truex, who now has 28 career wins. "At the beginning of the race I thought we were going to run 15th or so. Man, I just really can't believe it. I'm kind of speechless.

"This feels pretty amazing. Phoenix has been a tough one for us.

"I wish it was November and I was in the Final Four," he added with a smile, referring to the season championship finale at Phoenix Raceway later in the year. "Just so thankful and proud of everyone at JGR, everyone who makes this possible."

Statistically, Logano's Ford was the dominant car on the afternoon, leading a race best 143 of the 312 laps and winning Stage 2 - his first stage win of the year. His Penske Racing teammate Ryan Blaney won Stage 1 (also his first stage victory of 2021) and all three Penske Racing cars finished in the Top-10. In all, the Penske trio of Logano, Blaney and Keselowski combined to lead 197 laps - out front 63 percent of the day.

Logano started alongside Truex on the front row for the final restart and mounted a challenge for the lead, but he couldn't hold off Truex even with a more favorable inside starting position.

"I was surprised he was able to hang with me on that [final] start," a disappointed Logano conceded of Truex's winning move. "He had a good start too, but I had a good one on the bottom and I thought might have short-cut it on the dogleg and I thought, boy I might have him cleared. Then we went into that corner still door-to-door and when you're door-to-door the outside car has control.

"I'm pretty sure even if I beat him even on that start he was still going to hound me and probably get by me. They had the best car. We had a good car for sure, but once they tuned it in toward the second stage, it was the best car on the race track."

Truex's JGR teammate Denny Hamlin was third, followed by Logano's teammate Brad Keselowski and last November's Phoenix winner Chase Elliott in fifth.

Kevin Harvick, a nine-time Phoenix winner, was sixth, earning his fourth Top-10 finish in the season's opening five races. Last week's Las Vegas winner Kyle Larson was seventh, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron was eighth followed by JGR driver Christopher Bell and Blaney to round out the Top-10.

Even without the victory, it was an impressive showing for the three Hendrick Motorsports cars that rallied to a Top-10. Elliott, Larson and Byron all had to start from the rear of the field on Sunday with inspection issues. And the fourth Hendrick car, driven by Alex Bowman, was equally resilient with a 13th place finish despite hitting the wall and bringing out an early race caution flag.

Larson, in particular put on a lesson in resiliency. He rallied to race among the Top-10 - even lead a lap - a third of the way into the race - but was sent back to the rear of the lead lap cars twice after that because of pit road speeding violations.