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 Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service
LONG POND, PA (June 13. 2026) It’s been a recurring theme in the NASCAR Cup Series in recent weeks. Denny Hamlin is out front.
The veteran driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota claimed his fourth Busch Light Pole position of the season Saturday afternoon at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and will lead the field to green in Sunday’s Great American Getaway 400 presented by VISITPA (1 p.m. ET on Prime Video, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Of note, with poor weather expected later Sunday afternoon, the green flag start time (1 p.m.) has been moved up two hours earlier than its originally scheduled time.
This marks the 51st pole position of Hamlin’s career and comes as the popular veteran is attempting to win three consecutive races for the first time in his celebrated career after victories the last two weeks in Nashville and Michigan.
He was the last driver to take to the track in Saturday’s qualifying session and just nudged Hendrick Motorsports’ driver Kyle Larson from the top position in the final minutes – Hamlin’s lap of 173.250 mph around the 2.5-mile triangular-shaped Pocono track was .057-second quicker than Larson’s best.
“Certainly had the grip, this whole team just did a great job with adjustments, making it a little better from practice, I didn’t execute a very good lap there in Turn 2, but overall I thought I hit [turns] three and one pretty decent – just good enough,” Hamlin said.
He acknowledged he and the team are certainly on a hot streak at the moment with wins in the non-points paying All-Star Race four weeks ago plus the two victories in the last two weeks. The effort has helped Hamlin cut 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick’s 100-plus point advantage over him atop the standings to only 51 points heading into Pocono, a place Hamlin has won a record seven times.
“It’s certainly going well and confidence is up with these guys [on the team] that every time I enter a corner at about 200, I know they’ve built me a car that’s going to stick,” Hamlin said, acknowledging his three-in-a-row opportunity.
“This is the best shot for sure, we’ve got a little work to do on the car overnight to get it to be a race winner, but I feel like we’re in that box where we need to be and we’ll fine tune it from here.”
Starting behind Hamlin and Larson are Daniel Suarez in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet and Hamlin’s JGR teammates Ty Gibbs (No. 54 Toyota) and defending race winner Chase Briscoe (No. 19 Toyota).
Chris Buescher, who won his first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono in 2016, qualified sixth – his No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford the first Ford on the grid. Legacy Motor Club teammates Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek will start their Toyotas seventh and eighth. Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron (No. 24 Chevrolet) and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney (No. 12 Ford) – who also earned his first career series win at Pocono in 2017 – round out the top-10 on the grid.
Of note, 23XI Racing’s Reddick will roll of 15th and his teammate, Bubba Wallace, will start from the rear of the field after a qualifying session accident. RFK owner-driver Brad Keselowski had engine trouble in the session and will start alongside Wallace on the last row.
By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service
LONG POND, PA (June 13, 2026) – NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ MillerTech Battery 250 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway Saturday featured a record 18 lead changes and a record 10 cautions – including a seven-minute red flag period – but in the end, it was a very familiar scenario in Victory Lane: championship leader Justin Allgaier and the No. 7 JR Motorsports team celebrating an inspired drive.
Allgaier led a race best 35 of the 100 laps – ultimately taking the lead for good on a restart with two laps remaining. Haas Factory teammates Sam Mayer – who was Allgaier’s greatest challenge on the day – and Sheldon Creed created a three-wide push for the lead on the final restart but ultimately slid backwards as Allgaier’s JR Motorsports teammate William Byron was able to push Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet forward to create a gap on the field.
The advantage was all Allgaier needed to race off to a .607-second win over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Brent Crews – who passed Byron on the last corner of the last lap for second place.
The victory was the 2024 series champion Allgaier’s first at the historic Pocono 2.5-mile triangle-shaped track giving him wins now at 21 different venues. And it marked the fifth win of the year for Allgaier, tying his previous high season win total.
“First of all, I’ve got to say thank you to William Byron because without his shove at the end of the race, it was probably game over,” Allgaier said before thanking the fans for filling the grandstands.
“This season has been special with [crew chief] Andrew Overstreet and this whole number seven team and this pit crew right here,” he said, adding with a grin, “We’re going to go celebrate this one for sure.”
Slowed by all the caution flags – four in the opening 25-lap stage alone – the early part of the race never allowed for one driver to establish a rhythm and truly set a pace among all the starting and stopping.
Polesitter Taylor Gray led 24 laps and won the opening stage and Crews claimed the stage two win. But the final half of the race was really a duel between Allgaier and Mayer, who led 14 laps and exchanged the lead with Allgaier frequently in the race’s closing laps – sometimes on the same lap. They started side-by-side out front on the three final restarts and Mayer looked like his No. 41 Haas Factory Team Chevrolet would at least keep Allgaier honest. In the end, Mayer and Creed finished fourth and fifth.
“It was either the double zero [Creed] was trying to make a block, or just a push gone wrong a little bit,” Mayer said, of the unsuccessful three-wide move on that last restart. “Just really unfortunate circumstance. We actually had a really good launch.
“At the end of these races, you’re not going to not take a run so I don’t blame my teammate for pulling out of line like that, but obviously it put me in a bad spot,” Mayer continued. “The middle [lane] was okay if I had people with me. … obviously today we executed really, really well, so lots to be proud about, but obviously I’m very devastated right now because I just want a shot at it and don’t feel like I haven’t gotten a really true shot at it when the white flag flew.
“We were close today executed really good and really proud of everybody. One day it’s going to be my turn, and I can’t wait.”
Incredibly, Allgaier’s effort – the 33rd victory of his career – now puts him an unbelievable 250 points up on second place, Richard Childress Racing driver Jesse Love in the series championship standings with seven regular season races remaining. Love only completed a single lap after being collected in the first of 10 yellow-flag incidents on the day.
“Just frustrated obviously, thought our Camaro was going to be good today,” Love said, adding, “Only got one lap to feel it out but I was happy with that one corner, wish we had gotten a few more.”
Anthony Alfredo, Rajah Caruth, Brandon Jones, the defending Pocono race winner Connor Zilisch and Carson Kvapil rounded out the top-10.
Jeremy Clements led a lap and finished 16th in a historical day for his career and the series. The 41-year-old South Carolinian tied Kenny Wallace for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series most all-time starts – 547 races. Wallace set the record in 2011 and last raced in 2015. Clements will claim the mark for himself when he takes next week’s green flag at San Diego.
The series heads to Southern California for next Saturday’s inaugural United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 (5:30 p.m. ET on The CW, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) on the Coronado Naval Base.
BROOKLYN, MI (June 6, 2026) – Kris Wright and the No. 81 McAnally Hilgemann Racing team a hoping for better days after a frustrating DQS Solutions & Staffing 250 powered by Precision Vehicle Logistics Saturday at Michigan International Speedway.
Wright started 27th in the No. 81 iHeart Radio Silverado RST on the 2-mile oval. The race was only 7-laps old when Wright was involved in an accident, causing him to lose a lap while his team made repairs.
Wright was quickly back on pit road on Lap 18 after a left rear tire issue required additional work by his crew. Wright returned to the race three laps down at that point.
“Brutal day for our iHeartRadio team,” said Wright. “The No. 81 crew worked hard all weekend to get speed in the truck, and we never really had the opportunity to show what we were capable of.”
Fuel-only pit stops during the races final stage enabled Wright and his team to finish 31st. Corey Heim was the race winner.
Fan favorite Cleetus McFarland, in only his second series start, rallied from a late race spin that brought out one of seven yellow flags – and finished 25th on the lead lap.
The trucks are off next week and will return to action June 19 in the inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Race in San Diego on the Naval Base Coronado (7 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“I’m looking forward to getting to San Diego in a couple of weeks,” said Wright. “Road courses have always suited my driving style, and it’ll be special to spend the weekend in Coronado celebrating the military members who will be in attendance.”
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