BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Christopher Bell seized the victory on a late restart Saturday night time at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing a first-round sweep of the NASCAR Cup Sequence playoffs for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Main the ultimate 4 laps, Bell completed 0.343 seconds forward of Brad Keselowski, who was making an attempt to finish a 51-race winless streak.
Bell joined JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe as first-round winners as Toyotas remained unbeaten within the 10-race playoffs.
Zane Smith completed third, adopted by Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.
There have been a season-high 14 warning flags for 137 laps as drivers and groups struggled to get a deal with on a brand new right-side tire with extreme put on that required extra pit stops.
The playoff drama spiked with 40 laps remaining when a hearth erupted beneath Austin Cindric’s No. 2 Ford. His group was in a position to extinguish the flames, however Cindric misplaced a number of laps within the pits and re-emerged outdoors the highest 30 and simply forward of Alex Bowman within the factors for the twelfth and ultimate switch spot to the second spherical.
However Bowman, who had rebounded from a spin on the one centesimal lap, nonetheless wanted to win to bump out Cindric. He completed eighth and got here up 10 factors in need of advancing.
Additionally eradicated have been Austin Dillon (twenty eighth), Shane van Gisbergen (twenty sixth) and Josh Berry (thirty ninth).
Looking for his first Cup victory, Ty Gibbs led a race-high 201 of 500 laps however bungled whereas making an attempt to achieve the pits for his ultimate green-flag cease, shedding main time in his No. 54 Toyota.
First out
With smoke billowing from the cockpit and flames capturing out from his right-front tire, Berry made an attention grabbing exit as the primary driver eradicated. The Wooden Brothers Racing driver certified tenth and ran as excessive as third earlier than a hearth erupted on his No. 21 Ford.
“Man, simply so disappointing,” Berry stated. “That was going to be plenty of enjoyable. We have been transferring ahead. It’s been a troublesome couple of weeks, however it hasn’t been due to efficiency. We executed nicely and ran nicely, simply haven’t had the finishes.”
Berry, whose playoff debut started with a crash on the primary lap of the Southern 500, completed final in all three races of the primary spherical. “I don’t suppose you could possibly ever script three last-place finishes within the ways in which we’ve gotten them,” he stated.
Uncharacteristic outburst
Bell is often low-key, however the Joe Gibbs Racing driver blasted his group and its technique with a vulgarity-laced tirade after ending seventh within the prior race at Gateway. Bell, who’s winless in 24 races and with no high 5 since July, stated he was pissed off after watching teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe win the primary two races of the playoffs.
“If I used to be persistently main laps and in place to win, then I might by no means have been pissed off,” Bell stated. “However the truth of the matter is I haven’t been in place to win races, I haven’t led laps. My teammates are main it looks like virtually each lap, and so they’re getting the outcomes. It’s much less about successful races and extra about being in place to do nicely, and we haven’t had that.”
Up subsequent
The NASCAR Cup Sequence playoffs will open the second spherical Sunday, Sept. 21 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. It’s the primary Cup race on the 1.058-mile oval since June 2024 and the primary playoff race in Loudon, New Hampshire, since September 2017.
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