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Bell earns third straight NASCAR Cup win, beating Hamlin by just 0.049s

Christopher Bell was just a few laps away from a fairly calm victory at Phoenix Raceway when the caution flag flew for his teammate Ty Gibbs, who suffered a brake failure. This set-up a two-lap dash to the checkered flag where Bell had to fend off another Joe Gibbs Racing teammate in Denny Hamlin in a dramatic finish.

In ARCA, Brenden 'Butterbean' Queen and Brent Crews battled side-by-side into the final corner for the win on Friday night. In the Xfinity race on Saturday, Aric Almirola and Alex Bowman did the same. Well, Sunday was no different as Bell entered the final corner to the inside of Hamlin, using up a lot of track as they grasped at the lead.

Exiting Turn 4, Kyle Larson nearly got under both of them and even touched the rear bumper of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but Bell managed to just barely hang on. Hamlin was 0.049s back at the line in the second-closest finish in the history of Cup at Phoenix while Larson was only 0.097s adrift of the win in third.

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (Photo by: Jonathan Bachman - Getty Images)

Bell makes some history 

"How about that one, race fans?" Bell told FOX Sports 1. "Oh, my gosh, man. Whenever you're sitting there dreaming it up, that's about as ugly as it gets. You put the red tires on, you're like, All right, what I don't want to happen is go 20, 30 laps, get a yellow. That happened. Then we went 10 more laps, had another yellow. It was all about who could get clear on the restart. Neither of us could. We were racing really, really hard there coming to the line ... JGR ran 1-2, how about that?"

Bell is the first driver of the Next Gen era (and first since Larson in 2021) to win three consecutive Cup races. After getting crashed from the front row during the Daytona 500, he came back with a vengeance, taking dramatic victories at Atlanta, COTA and now Phoenix. He now has 12 career victories, already matching his own record for most wins in a single season after just four races this year. 

Behind the leading trio at the checkered flag, the Fords of Josh Berry and Chris Buescher rounded out the top-five. The rest of the top-ten was as follows: William Byron, Bowman, Kyle Busch, Zane Smith, and Chase Elliott. The race was slowed by ten cautions, including a massive multi-car pileup on Lap 99 which forced seven cars to fall out of the race.

Photos from Phoenix Race

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford, Ryan Preece, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford, Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing Ford

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Michael McDowell, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Justin Haley, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Ryan Preece, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Katherine Legge, Chevrolet, AJ Allmendinger, Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Fans

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford, William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Fans

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Brad Keselowski, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford, Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing Toyota, Justin Haley, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

General view

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Ty Dillon, Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

General view

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

General view

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Chris Buescher, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford, Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing Ford

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

General view

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske Ford, Kyle Busch, Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

2025 Phoenix - Sunday

NASCAR Cup
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In this article
Nick DeGroot
NASCAR Cup
Denny Hamlin
Christopher Bell
Joe Gibbs Racing
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