NASCAR
Off to a strong start, Christopher Bell is poised for a breakout season
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
AUSTIN, TX (March 4, 2025) — If you’re looking for a subtitle for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, try “Christopher Bell Unbound.”
Freed from the embargo that prevented him from racing on dirt for three years, Bell is competing with joy this season—and with performance to match.
On a windy, temperate Sunday at the auspiciously shortened road course at Circuit of the Americas, Bell won his second straight race in NASCAR’s premier division and indicated, without boast, that there likely are more victories to come.
“I’m ready to keep adding to it,” Bell said after the race.
That prospect isn’t far-fetched. In fact, given the speed in his No. 20 Toyota and the flawless execution by his team, it’s not inconceivable that Bell could extend his winning streak to three or four races.
He’s the defending winner of this Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM). In last year’s season finale at the same one-mile flat track, Bell led a race-high 143 laps before finishing fifth.
In two of the last three races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the Cup Series will race on Mar. 16, Bell has finished second after winning the pole. In the 2024 Playoff event at the 1.5-mile track, Bell led a race-high 155-laps but finished second to Joey Logano by 0.662 second.
If any race was emblematic of Bell’s performance in 2024, it was that close call at Las Vegas. The No. 20 car often had winning speed, but Bell and his team all too often failed to deliver the coup de grace.
This season seems vastly different. A dirt-track Prometheus unchained from team owner Joe Gibbs’ prohibition against extracurricular racing, Bell entered 2025 with renewed confidence, steeled determination and, yes, unbridled joy.
Before turning a lap in a NASCAR Cup car, the 30-year-old from Norman, Oklahoma, won the 55-lap Non-Wing Outlaw feature at the Tulsa Shootout in a photo finish over 2021 NASCAR champion Kyle Larson.
On Jan. 13, he dominated the Chili Bowl Race of Champions against world-class midget race car drivers. On February 6, after finishing 12th in the Cook Out Clash for Cup cars at Bowman Gray Stadium, Bell won his first World of Outlaws winged sprint car feature event since 2019.
Success on dirt no doubt has contributed to Bell’s sanguine posture entering the Cup Series regular season. But why would Gibbs relax his long-standing ban on moonlighting in other forms of racing?
“I think as much as anything, we have three of our guys (Bell, new hire Chase Briscoe and grandson Ty Gibbs) heavily involved in dirt stuff,” Gibbs said. “I felt like that the thing that I probably made the decision on, they’re really focused just on racing.
“They love it, and they talked about the offseason, being able to get a chance to race some dirt stuff would help fill their time and get them excited about things. We’ll kind of see where he leads, but I made that decision, and we’ll kind of see what happens with it.”
So far, so good.
After victories at Atlanta and COTA, Bell will try for three straight at Phoenix, a feat no Cup driver has accomplished since NASCAR introduced its Next Gen Cup car in 2022. Larson is the last driver to have won three consecutive Cup races, which he did twice during his 10-victory season in 2021.
Bell knows it won’t be easy, given the way the Next Gen car has leveled the competition.
“Back in the day, I remember it was the big three,” Bell said. “Everyone had the big three. It was Kyle (Busch), Martin (Truex Jr.) and (Kevin) Harvick there for a little bit, and different guys would come and go. It seemed like those teams had a little bit extra.
“Now, with the Next Gen car, you can’t really get that advantage. Winning has certainly become harder. More guys are capable of it. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing is debatable, but it’s the sport that we live in and compete in right now.”
This year, Bell does seem to have something extra, but it comes from within. He appears more resolute, with higher expectations.
“It’s time to start putting it all together,” he said. “I’m sitting here 30 years old and (have) the opportunity of a lifetime in front of me. I’ve had this team for a long time, and I haven’t been performing to the standards that I hold myself and this team holds everybody.
“So, we need to start today, and we’re off to a good start this year.”
Another win at Phoenix certainly isn’t out of the question. Neither is a victory at Las Vegas, though winning four straight is a long shot for any competitor.
In NASCAR’s modern era (from 1972 to present), only eight drivers—Cale Yarborough (1976), Darrell Waltrip (1981), Dale Earnhardt Sr. (1987), Harry Gant (1991), Bill Elliott (1992), Mark Martin (1993), Jeff Gordon (1998) and Jimmie Johnson (2007)—have won four straight races.
Five of those drivers—Yarborough, Waltrip, Earnhardt, Gordon and Johnson—won championships in the years they established the streaks.
Bell could be next in both categories, if the last two races are any indication.
“I think it’s a testament to this team,” Bell said. “They have no weaknesses. We can win at any race track at any time… I feel like we may have a ride. I don’t want to speak too early, but doing good so far.”
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
CONCORD, N.C. (October 3, 2025) —Recovering from a first-lap crash in “Calamity Corner”, Corey Heim rallied to win Friday’s EcoSave 250 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, setting a single-season NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series record with his 10th win of the 2025 campaign.
Driving a heavily taped No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota, Heim took the lead by staying out for an overtime restart while teammate Brent Crews, who had led a race-high 56 laps, pitted for fuel and tires.
Heim drove away on the restart and beat runner-up Crews to the finish line by 1.338 seconds, leading the first-ever 1-2-3 finish for TRICON, with rookie Gio Ruggiero coming home third.
“It was not easy today—I think it was probably the toughest one of the year so far,” said Heim, who secured a spot in the Oct. 31 Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway. “Just shows the resilience of this TRICON team. They fixed it up so good for me after that incident on the first lap—just kind of out of our control.
“I thought we were done, honestly. The right front completely folded when it hit the wall over there.”
In fact, the race was just a few seconds old when three Playoff drivers tangled in Turn 1, nicknamed “Calamity Corner” as the frequent scene of accidents at the 2.28-mile, 17-turn circuit.
Contact from Grant Enfinger sent second-place starter Layne Riggs spinning in a collision that knocked the No. 11 Toyota of Heim, the pole winner and runaway series leader, into the Turn 1 barrier.
All three trucks sustained damage, with Heim suffering a left-rear tire rub that required multiple pit stops to correct.
“We were not as good as we were in practice and qualifying after that damage,” said the 23-year-old Heim, who earned his first victory at the Roval and the 21st of his career, seventh all-time. “My steering wheel was about 45 degrees to the left, and we came down pit road like six times to try to get it back to at least somewhat where it was.”
As Heim worked his way back to the front after the accident, Crews dominated, though he short-pitted in both the first and second stages to set up track position after the breaks.
In fact, Crews appeared bound for his first victory in the series before another TRICON teammate, Toni Breidinger, stalled in Turn 5 to cause the fourth and final caution, sending the race to overtime.
Crews came to pit road from the lead with third-place Connor Zilisch, as Heim stayed on track with Connor Mosack, Riggs and Chandler Smith.
Riggs, who had been racing without a sway bar since the early crash, suffered clutch issues on the restart and held up the outside lane. With trucks spinning behind him, Heim opened a gap and maintained it throughout the two-lap extra period.
“We had a super-fast truck, as you got to see,” Crews said philosophically. “I’m out there leading the race today—I had a blast. Really happy for TRICON today to go 1-2-3, and congrats to the whole 11 team. They did a great job all day as well.
“I was happy to see them get back up there, but I definitely didn’t want to see stay out there (for the overtime).”
With Heim advancing to the Championship 4, the other seven Playoff drivers left the opening race in the Round of 8 clustered together around the elimination line. Daniel Hemric (11th Friday after starting from the rear) and Tyler Ankrum (ninth) are second and third in the standings, two points above the cut line.
Fourth-place finisher Rajah Caruth is fourth in the standings, just one point to the good over Riggs, two clear of defending series champion Ty Majeski and four ahead of Enfinger and Kaden Honeycutt, who won the first and second stages before finishing 14th.
Zilisch came home fifth in Friday’s race, followed by Josh Bilicki, Enfinger, Majeski, Ankrum and Mosack. Riggs finished 21st to drop below the cut line and was still steamed about the first-lap incident after the race.
“We just got wrecked by the 9 (Enfinger),” Riggs said. “I don’t really understand what his thought process is. People say you’re supposed to take advice from the veterans and learn from them of how to race, and they race the worst out of anybody.
“That’s twice this year we’ve gotten wrecked by the 9 truck—at Watkins Glen and here, both road courses, two separate incidents, two blatantly wrong on his part. We drug a sway bar arm off after that contact and just had a terrible handling truck the rest of the day.
“At the end, we were just going to try to salvage something, but something in the rear end housing broke, or a clutch started slipping, but I had no power there at the end.”
By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service
KANSAS CITY, KS (September 28, 2025) — In the last few feet of race track in the second overtime Sunday afternoon, Chase Elliott came from oblivion to steal the Hollywood Casino 400 Presented by ESPN BET and earn a berth in the Round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
As his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet sped wide open through the final corner on Lap 273 at Kansas Speedway, Elliott’s car bounced off the side of Denny Hamlin’s Toyota on the way to the finish line.
Elliott, who restarted eighth for the final two-lap shootout, got to the stripe 0.069 seconds ahead of Hamlin, who led 159 laps and drove the final stretch of the second Round of 12 Playoff race without benefit of power steering.
“Everything worked out perfect for me,” said Elliott, who picked up his second win of the season, his second at Kansas and the 21st of his career. “Had a great push through (Turns) 1 and 2. That kind of all started with the 6 (Brad Keselowski). Big run off of 2. Seas kind of parted and just was able to keep my momentum up. That was really it…
“I wasn’t going to lift, so I didn’t know what was going to happen. I figured at the end of the day, it was what it was at that point. We were both wide open corner exit. Wherever I ended up, I ended up. At that point, we were all committed.”
Hamlin was spent after man-handling his car around the 1.5-mile track in the closing laps of the race.
“Just super disappointing,” said Hamlin, who swept the first and second stages. “I wanted it bad. It would have been 60 (career victories) for me. The team just did an amazing job with the car, just really, really fast.
“Gave me everything I needed. Got the restart I needed. Just couldn’t finish it there on the last corner.”
The good news for Hamlin is that he increased his margin over the current Playoff cut line to 48 points entering next Sunday’s Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Barring disaster, Hamlin is all but assured of advancing to the Round of 8.
Christopher Bell finished third, followed by pole winner Chase Briscoe and Bubba Wallace, who led the field to green for the final overtime restart but faded to fifth after battling side-by-side with Hamlin on the final lap.
Wallace was leading as he approached the white flag in the first overtime, but a violent four-car collision in Turn 3 on Lap 267 necessitated a caution that slowed the field before Wallace could reach the flag stand.
“Two years ago, I’d probably say something dumb,” said Wallace, who drives for the 23XI Racing team Hamlin co-owns with NBA legend Michael Jordan. “He’s a dumbass for that move (on the final lap). I don’t care if he’s my boss or not. But we’re going for the win. I hate that we gave it to Chevrolet there.
“Toyotas were super-fast, and proud to be driving one. I thought it was meant to be, and then it wasn’t.”
Despite the fifth-place finish, Wallace leaves Kansas 10th in the standings, 26 points below the elimination line for the next round.
He was tantalizingly close to his second win of the season before John Hunter Nemechek knocked the Ford of Zane Smith into the outside wall in Turn 3 in the first overtime.
The impact from Nemechek’s Toyota turned Smith’s Ford sideways against the outside wall, with Smith’s car sliding on the driver’s side through the corner before barrel-rolling down the banking and coming to rest upright on four wheels.
“It was a wild ride, no doubt,” Smith said. “Before I knew it, I had a decent restart going and I just get wrecked by the 42 (Nemechek). He just drives through me and then I was sliding on the wall.
“I was just mad at that point from how our day was going, and this just pissed me off even more, because that’s what really hurt was just flipping down the track. It was violent, no doubt, but we had such a fast Speedy Cash Ford today. It’s just a bummer.”
Playoff driver Austin Cindric was collected in an 11-car wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 217 and heads to the Charlotte Roval 48 points below the elimination line and almost certainly needing a victory to advance.
Playoff drivers Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick ran sixth and seventh on Sunday but head to Charlotte in very different positions. Larson is 54 points ahead of ninth-place Ross Chastain, while Reddick is 11th in the standings, 29 points below the cut line.
Keselowski finished eighth at Kansas, followed by Playoff driver William Byron, who fought and ill-handling car until his No. 24 Chevrolet came to life in the final run.
Despite a pass-through penalty on the first lap for an inspection failure, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen followed Byron, posting his first career top-10 finish on a NASCAR oval.
By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
KANSAS CITY, KS (September 27, 2025) — With a flawlessly executed race from start to finish, Brandon Jones preserved his bragging rights at Kansas Speedway, winning Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff event.
The only driver in the field to have won a previous Xfinity race at the 1.5-mile intermediate track, Jones pulled away during the final 38-lap green-flag and beat runner-up rookie sensation Connor Zilisch to the finish line by 2.787 seconds.
With the victory, his second of the season, his third at Kansas and the seventh of his career, Jones claimed a berth in the Playoff’s Round of 8. Zilisch and defending series champion Justin Allgaier also advanced to the next round on points.
“That was exactly like how we needed that to go down,” said Jones, who started from the pole, led 54 of 200 laps and finished second in each of the first two stages. “Two really solid stages—no mistakes. The entire day was so well executed. That’s probably by far in my career my most well-executed race.
“I’m so proud of these guys (his No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing team). We worked so hard all week to get here and put a race like this together.”
Allgaier and Sam Mayer stayed out on 15-lap older tires during the fourth and final caution of the afternoon, hoping for a subsequent caution that would allow them to use their final set of Goodyears. But the caution never came, and Allgaier and Mayer finished 13thand 16th, respectively.
Allgaier, who won the first two stages and led a race-high 79 laps, didn’t have a problem with crew chief Jim Pohlman’s strategic call.
“They work for you sometimes, they don’t some other times,” Allgaier said. “Disappointed… our (No. 7 JR Motorsports) Chevrolet was really good.”
Though the handling of his No. 88 Chevrolet wasn’t precisely to his liking, Zilisch scored his 16th straight top-five result, breaking a tie with Sam Ard (1983) for the series record.
“I didn’t feel like our car was winning-capable, except at a point there in stage three, I thought we had a chance at it,” said Zilisch, who led 42 laps. “We’ll look at it and see what we could have done better. We were just kind of throwing Hail Marys at it all day and trying to make one stick—but it didn’t stick.”
Austin Hill finished third, followed by fellow Playoff drivers Sammy Smith, Sheldon Creed, Taylor Gray, Jesse Love and Nick Sanchez.
Next Saturday’s final Round of 12 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course has the makings of an intense battle for the final positions in the Round of 8. Love, the last driver above the current elimination line, leads Sanchez by five points, Hill by seven, Harrison Burton (20th Saturday after starting from the rear) by eight and Smith by 14.
Mayer, highest in the standings of the drivers not yet locked into the Round of 8, has a 38-point cushion entering the final event in the round, the Blue Cross NC 250 (5 p.m. ET, Oct. 4 on CW, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Contact from Sanchez’s No. 48 Chevrolet knocked the No.19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Justin Bonsignore out of the race in 37th place and dropped that car nine points below the elimination line in the owners’ standings.
Dietz Does It, Leads Posse Sweep
Corey Heim parlays overtime restart into record 10th NASCAR Truck Series win
Opportunistic Chase Elliott steals a NASCAR Cup Playoff win at Kansas
Dale Blaney Wins World Of Outlaws At Sharon Speedway
