Good Comes To Those Who Wait; Bell Wins At Homestead & Punches Ticket To Phoenix

Last week, Christopher Bell thought he gave away his shot at the NASCAR Cup Series title race at Phoenix Raceway when he refused to move Kyle Larson for the win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Bell proved even himself wrong.

Bell, whose Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota wasn’t quite right to begin the race Sunday in South Florida, came on late in the event to punch his ticket to Phoenix.

“I’ve got the best team behind me,” Bell said. “Honestly, I don’t know how we did it. This race was a whirlwind.”

The number 20 team’s struggles at the beginning of the 267-lap event really put serious doubt into Bell’s head. However, it was his crew chief that helped get his mind back into the game.

“I was about ready to throw the towel in during that second stage,” he said. “I got really frustrated but Adam Stevens kept after it and gave me what I needed. Whenever we got some clean air, our car was really good.”

The car that was probably the quickest late in the going on Sunday was Ryan Blaney who leaped himself into championship 4 contention with a runner-up finish.

“The long run car was really good,” Blaney said. “I just couldn’t fire off for 10 laps or so. I think the track cooling off during the red flag helped those guys. I believe we were better in the hotter, sliker conditions when fire off speed didn’t matter as much and it fell off quicker. That played into our benefit.”

While he was charging to the front late in the race, he knew exactly what was at stake.

“We ran out of laps a little bit,” he said. “I am proud of the effort. It was a really good day. We just got beat a little bit there at the end.”

Truly, the class of the field on Sunday was Kyle Larson. Larson and his Hendrick Motorsports team are locked into the Championship event based on last week’s victory, and the driver of the number 5 was on a mission.

However, with just shy of 50 laps remaining, as leader Blaney and Larson approached pit road, Blaney’s car slowed significantly and Larson was still going faster directly behind him.

As the former Cup Series champion tried to avoid slamming into the back of the Team Penske Ford, Larson turned his Chevrolet to the right and went head-on into the sand-filled barriers at pit entrance, causing them to explode over the track and bring out a caution.

That caused enough damage on Larson’s car that he had to take it into the garage and was out of the race. He was credited with a 34th place finish despite leading a race-high 96 laps.

“I need to look at the data,” Larson said. “I knew where the yellow line was but on the replay, it looked like I missed it by a lot so I need to look at data. I was under control getting there and then Ryan just slowed down, I locked the brakes, clipped him and hit the barrels.”

You could tell the dejection in Larson after what could have been another momentum-building victory for his team.

“I’m upset with myself more than anything,” he said. “Whether he got to pit road speed sooner than the yellow line or not, I could have just done a little better job. It’s just a bummer. I thought we had a great car today and I just made a mistake.”

While Joe Gibbs Racing enjoyed the success of Christopher Bell’s win, in the span of five minutes during the closing laps of the race, their other two playoff drivers, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., fell out the race with major problems.

Hamlin slammed the turn one wall and was a retiree while under that caution, Truex’s car began to smoke out of the tailpipes and headed to the pits with an engine issue.

Both drivers have now dropped below the crucial top-four threshold that will advance to the Championship 4 race in Phoenix. Truex was scored 29th and Hamlin was 30th.

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is the Martinsville Speedway half-mile to close out the round of 8 and solidify the Championship 4 competitors for Phoenix.

Currently, Larson and Bell are locked in. Now, there are six drivers looking for two positions. Currently, William Byron is 30 points to the good while Blaney is +10.

Tyler Reddick (-10), Truex (-17), Hamlin (-17) and RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher (-43) are below the cut line heading into the next-to-last race of the 2023 season.

NASCAR Cup Series Race – 4EVER 400 Presented by Mobil 1

Homestead-Miami Speedway

Homestead, Florida

Sunday, October 22, 2023

1. (13) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 267.

2. (10) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 267.

3. (3) Tyler Reddick (P), Toyota, 267.

4. (7) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 267.

5. (25) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 267.

6. (2) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 267.

7. (9) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 267.

8. (36) Joey Logano, Ford, 267.

9. (30) Aric Almirola, Ford, 267.

10. (6) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 267.

11. (22) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 267.

12. (26) Austin Cindric, Ford, 267.

13. (29) Ryan Preece, Ford, 267.

14. (19) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 267.

15. (16) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 267.

16. (14) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 267.

17. (21) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 267.

18. (18) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 267.

19. (12) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 267.

20. (20) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 267.

21. (17) Chris Buescher (P), Ford, 267.

22. (15) Michael McDowell, Ford, 267.

23. (27) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 267.

24. (33) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 266.

25. (32) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 266.

26. (34) Ryan Newman(i), Ford, 265.

27. (23) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 263.

28. (4) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 262.

29. (1) Martin Truex Jr. (P), Toyota, Engine, 237.

30. (11) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, Accident, 236.

31. (8) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, Accident, 221.

32. (24) John Hunter Nemechek(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 218.

33. (31) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, Accident, 218.

34. (5) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, Accident, 214.

35. (35) Josh Bilicki(i), Chevrolet, Accident, 201.

36. (28) Harrison Burton, Ford, Overheating, 165.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 125.221 mph.

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 11 Mins, 54 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.651 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 5 for 35 laps.

Lead Changes: 25 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: M. Truex Jr. (P) 1;B. Wallace 2-10;M. Truex Jr. (P) 11-19;W. Byron (P) 20-32;T. Reddick (P) 33;D. Hamlin (P) 34-40;B. Keselowski 41-53;K. Larson (P) 54-80;B. Keselowski 81;K. Larson (P) 82-114;B. Keselowski 115;D. Hamlin (P) 116-125;K. Larson (P) 126-161;R. Blaney (P) 162-167;B. Keselowski 168;R. Blaney (P) 169-173;W. Byron (P) 174;R. Blaney (P) 175-212;D. Hamlin (P) 213-218;R. Blaney (P) 219-221;D. Hamlin (P) 222-229;C. Bell (P) 230-239;W. Byron (P) 240-242;R. Blaney (P) 243;W. Byron (P) 244-251;C. Bell (P) 252-267.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Kyle Larson (P) 3 times for 96 laps; Ryan Blaney (P) 5 times for 53 laps; Denny Hamlin (P) 4 times for 31 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 2 times for 26 laps; William Byron (P) 4 times for 25 laps; Brad Keselowski 4 times for 16 laps; Martin Truex Jr. (P) 2 times for 10 laps; Bubba Wallace 1 time for 9 laps; Tyler Reddick (P) 1 time for 1 lap.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,6,12,24,19,11,45,3,20,54

Stage #2 Top Ten: 12,24,5,11,6,19,45,54,3,22