Christopher Bell spurred the competition to corral his second win in as many weeks after overtaking Kyle Busch and stymying hard-charging Daytona 500 winner William Byron in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Bell, whose No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led twice for a total of eight laps, drove to the front with fresher tires late to earn his third career road course victory and first since the 2022 Bank of America ROVAL™ 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Chasing down Busch late on the 17-turn, 2.4-mile National Course, Bell said was reminiscent to last season when the two tangled and an upset Busch spun.
“These road course races are just so much fun,” Bell said. “When Kyle was leading, I was trying to be cautious. We know what happened last year and I didn’t want to do that again. I wanted to race him clean… Whenever I got out front, I just didn’t want to beat myself. Those were some of the sloppiest laps I’ve run.”
With Busch closing in on ending a 59-race winless streak, Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing made contact with Richard Childress Racing’s (RCR) Austin Dillon on lap 79 in the new Turn 6A section to bring out the day’s second race-related caution and bunch up the field. With fresher tires, Bell was stalking Busch at every turn and was able to overtake the RCR driver on lap 90.
“We had a really good car to be able to push that hard,” said Busch, a 63-time NCS winner who has not been victorious since the 2023 season. “I wish that we had equal tires to the 20 (car). I feel like that might have allowed me to hold on to him. Once we had that yellow, it was just defensive mode. I just didn’t have anything there at the end to compete with those guys.”
In the closing six laps, Byron of Hendrick Motorsports and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick made a push for the front but were unable to pass Bell. Byron finished second to post his third consecutive top-five finish at COTA while Reddick finished third. It marked his fourth consecutive top-five finish at the Austin circuit.
“It was really, really close,” Byron said of the racing in the closing laps. “I was just sitting there waiting for one of them [Bell and Busch] to bobble or slide the tires… I gave it my best shot, but I didn’t just want to bowl him out of the way.”
Earlier in the race, 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace used pit strategy to earn his first-ever stage win on a road course in the opening stage. In Stage Two, Ryan Preece of RFK Racing scored the second stage win of his career – and his first since Martinsville in 2023.
After a caution-free start to the 95-lap Texas showdown, Daniel Suarez brought out the first caution on lap 50, collecting his Trackhouse Racing teammate Connor Zilisch in the aftermath, ending the 18-year-old’s NCS debut.
“I’ve had so much fun preparing for this event,” Zilisch said. “That second stage, driving from outside the top 30 to 14th, was a lot of fun. I was passing a lot of guys that I used to watch on TV growing up. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to come back and do this again. I had an absolute blast driving through the field, and I wish it didn’t end early.”
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