Bell's second victory this season shakes up the Cup Series Playoff standings with four races remaining.
NASCAR’s self-described “best drivers in the world” waited until the final moments of Sunday afternoon’s Bank of America 400 on the Charlotte roval to spice up what had been a fairly benign show. In finally doing so, they dramatically shook up the Cup Series Playoff standings with four races remaining.
After opening with 103 consecutive, uneventful, single-file green-flag laps (except for stage breaks) with only five leaders, the final half-dozen laps featured a series of late-race cautions. There was a brief red flag, multi-car crashes that probably deserved cautions, and track repairs. All that melee and restarts conspired to take an almost-sure victory from Chase Elliott and delivered it to almost-unnoticed Christopher Bell. By almost any measure, it was among the season’s most surprising endings.
It was Bell’s second victory this season and the third of his career, all for Joe Gibbs Racing. In utterly stunning fashion, it came ahead of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger (who won Saturday afternoon’s Xfinity race), Jason Haley, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Dillon.
Few in the house were more surprised than Bell at how things turned out. “Man, you just got to be there at the end of these things,” he said after the victory that keeps him alive in the 10-race post-season. “I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. It’s no secret that road courses have not been our strength, but we were just there at the right time. Obviously, we weren’t in position to win so we rolled the dice and gambled, and it paid off for us.”
Bell was hardly a factor all day as Elliott (30), pole-winner Logano (27), Allmendinger (24), and Reddick (21) led all but the race’s 10 laps. The JGR No. 20 Toyota driver wasn’t in the top-10 after the first or second stage and led only once for the final two laps after passing Harvick.
He was lined up 11th for the final restart, but was on fresher tires. “I don’t even know (when I thought we might have a chance),” he confessed. “When I came off pit road and was the first car with tires, I was trying to see where I stacked up. I saw there were 11 cars that stayed out on old tires and I was the first one on new tires. I said, ‘I guess we’re going to roll the dice here and see what happens.’”
The race eliminated Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric, and defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson from championship consideration. Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Logano, Denny Hamlin, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, and Bell remain in the Playoffs.
The 112-lap, 260-mile overtime race was the third and last—after Texas and Talladega—in the second round of the four-round NASCAR Championship Playoffs. Round 3 begins next weekend at Las Vegas, then goes to Homestead before closing at Martinsville. Any winner(s) from that round and the highest-ranked in points will advance to the Nov. 6 season-ending Championship 4 near Phoenix.
The highest-finisher among those four will be the 2022 Cup Series champion, regardless of where he finishes among the rest of the field. In effect, the champion needs only to beat the other three contenders.
Don’t be surprised if Bell is among them.
NASCAR Cup Series Race – 63rd Annual Bank of America ROVAL 400
Charlotte Motor Speedway Road
1. (8) Christopher Bell (P), Toyota, 112.
2. (22) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 112.
3. (20) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 112.
4. (7) AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 112.
5. (13) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 112.
6. (21) Chris Buescher, Ford, 112.
7. (14) Bubba Wallace (P), Toyota, 112.
8. (4) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 112.
9. (17) Chase Briscoe (P), Ford, 112.
10. (15) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 112.
11. (26) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 112.
12. (30) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 112.
13. (24) Denny Hamlin (P), Toyota, 112.
14. (31) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 112.
15. (37) Aric Almirola, Ford, 112.
16. (2) William Byron (P), Chevrolet, 112.
17. (19) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, 112.
18. (1) Joey Logano (P), Ford, 112.
19. (25) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet, 112.
20. (9) Chase Elliott (P), Chevrolet, 112.
21. (5) Austin Cindric # (P), Ford, 112.
22. (16) Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 112.
23. (29) Noah Gragson(i) (P), Chevrolet, 112.
24. (12) Cole Custer, Ford, 112.
25. (28) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 112.
26. (6) Ryan Blaney (P), Ford, 112.
27. (11) Michael McDowell, Ford, 112.
28. (23) Harrison Burton #, Ford, 111.
29. (34) Mike Rockenfeller, Chevrolet, 111.
30. (32) Todd Gilliland #, Ford, 111.
31. (38) Josh Williams(i), Ford, 110.
32. (35) JJ Yeley(i), Ford, 110.
33. (36) Loris Hezemans(i), Ford, 110.
34. (39) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 109.
35. (18) Kyle Larson (P), Chevrolet, 107.
36. (3) Daniel Suarez (P), Chevrolet, 107.
37. (10) Ross Chastain (P), Chevrolet, 103.
38. (27) Joey Hand, Ford, Accident, 79.
39. (33) Daniil Kvyat(i), Toyota, Engine, 17.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 86.661 mph.
Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 59 Mins, 54 Secs. Margin of Victory: 1.790 Seconds.
Caution Flags: 4 for 10 laps.
Lead Changes: 10 among 8 drivers.
Lap Leaders: J. Logano (P) 1-27;T. Reddick 28-30;A. Allmendinger(i) 31-48;R. Chastain (P) 49-51;A. Allmendinger(i) 52-54;T. Reddick 55-72;A. Allmendinger(i) 73-75;E. Jones 76;C. Elliott (P) 77-106;K. Harvick 107-110;C. Bell (P) 111-112.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Chase Elliott (P) 1 time for 30 laps; Joey Logano (P) 1 time for 27 laps; AJ Allmendinger(i) 3 times for 24 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 21 laps; Kevin Harvick 1 time for 4 laps; Ross Chastain (P) 1 time for 3 laps; Christopher Bell (P) 1 time for 2 laps; Erik Jones 1 time for 1 lap.
Stage #1 Top Ten: 22,24,99,12,2,5,14,11,8,16
Stage #2 Top Ten: 1,21,5,16,8,99,22,14,12,9
Keyword: Christopher Bell Surprises Field with NASCAR Win at Charlotte Roval