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Motorsport

Sport

Bell wins back-to-back NASCAR Cup races after thrilling 4 car battle at COTA

Christopher Bell Kyle Busch NASCAR Chevrolet Ford NASCAR Cup Toyota William Byron COTA (Facility) Tyler Reddick

NASCAR fans saw a sensational fight for the win at the Circuit of the Americas, with a battle between four drivers coming down to the last corner on the final lap. In the end, it was Christopher Bell waving the checkered flag for the second consecutive week. Seven days ago, he led only the final lap on his way to taking victory at Atlanta, but it was no surprise to see him in Victory Lane Sunday at COTA by showing pace in all three stages.

COTA is Bell's eleventh career win and the earliest in the season he’s claimed multiple race victories.

"That was almost a déjà vu of last year," said Bell, who was also chasing the leader but came up short in last year's COTA race. "I had the track position that time. Man, these road course races are just so much fun.

"Whenever Kyle [Busch] was leading, I was just trying to be so cautious. Obviously we know what happened last year (Bell spun Busch, igniting a post-race conversation]. I didn't want that to happen. I wanted to pass him clean. He was just doing such a good job at running his race, and he could get off the corners just good enough that I couldn't get inside of him. But there I started peeking a nose, and he bobbled and allowed me to get out front. Whenever I did, I'm, like, Okay, just don't beat yourself. Those were about the five or six sloppiest laps I've ever run."

The fight for the win

Kyle Busch was in command following the final set of green-flag pit stops, hoping to end a 59-race winless streak. However, his teammate Austin Dillon found himself stuck in the gravel after contact from Denny Hamlin, forcing a late-race caution. Now, Busch had quite the fight on his hands.

As the laps ticked away, Bell closed in on Busch and the two drivers became locked in an intense battle for the race lead. Bell had to swerve to avoid running into Busch at one point and they even slammed doors as they elbowed each other out of the way entering the essess. Bell ultimately prevailed with an inside pass that began in the last corner and was completed entering Turn 1 with just five laps to go. With the tires used up, Busch faded fast, watching helplessly as his chance of victory slipped away.

But the battle for the win was far from over. William Byron was quickly on him and the winners from the past two weekends then battled for the top spot. Right behind them was Tyler Reddick, waiting for his opportunity to pounce. Byron was all over the rear bumper of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but he wasn't willing to shove him out of the way.

Midway through the race, Kyle Busch had a lengthy defensive battle against Van Ginsbergen and Reddick. (Photo by: James Gilbert / Getty Images)

Byron keeps it clean

On the final lap, he was close enough to push Bell wide but still chose to keep it clean in the run to the finish. Bell claimed victory, with both Byron and Reddick within three tenths of the race winner.

"We've always raced really well together so I didn't want to move him blatantly and all that kind of stuff," said Byron, who won the Daytona 500 in February. "We came a long way this weekend. Really proud of that. We were pretty far off to start and got ourselves obviously raceable and in a position to win. "So just sucks to be so damn close, right? You can be on the bumper of the guy coming to the line, and that sucks. A lot of races ahead, and hopefully we can just keep bringing the speed."

Chase Elliott came back from a Lap 1 spin to finish fourth, leading a group of drivers who pitted for fresh rubber during the final caution. Busch faded to fifth while Shane van Gisbergen was sixth. Chris Buescher, Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman, and Todd Gilliland rounded out the top-ten.

Cla	Driver	#	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points
1	C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing	20	Toyota	95	3:07'19.202		5	42
2	W. ByronHendrick Motorsports	24	Chevrolet	95	+0.433 3:07'19.635	0.433	6	41
3	T. Reddick23XI Racing	45	Toyota	95	+0.578 3:07'19.780	0.145	6	39
4	C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports	9	Chevrolet	95	+5.274 3:07'24.476	4.696	9	39
5	K. BuschRichard Childress Racing	8	Chevrolet	95	+5.943 3:07'25.145	0.669	6	46
6	S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	95	+8.559 3:07'27.761	2.616	5	45
7	C. BuescherRFK Racing	17	Ford	95	+8.620 3:07'27.822	0.061	7	30
8	N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports	4	Ford	95	+9.826 3:07'29.028	1.206	5	29
9	A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports	48	Chevrolet	95	+10.245 3:07'29.447	0.419	8	28
10	T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports	34	Ford	95	+11.276 3:07'30.478	1.031	5	27
11	M. McDowellSpire Motorsports	71	Chevrolet	95	+11.645 3:07'30.847	0.369	7	34
12	R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing	1	Chevrolet	95	+11.883 3:07'31.085	0.238	5	25
13	C. HocevarSpire Motorsports	77	Chevrolet	95	+13.033 3:07'32.235	1.150	6	24
14	C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing	19	Toyota	95	+14.067 3:07'33.269	1.034	6	23
15	B. KeselowskiRFK Racing	6	Ford	95	+14.160 3:07'33.362	0.093	9	22
16	J. HaleySpire Motorsports	7	Chevrolet	95	+16.396 3:07'35.598	2.236	5	21
17	R. Herbst23XI Racing	35	Toyota	95	+18.738 3:07'37.940	2.342	6	20
18	R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports	47	Chevrolet	95	+21.441 3:07'40.643	2.703	6	19
19	R. BlaneyTeam Penske	12	Ford	95	+21.599 3:07'40.801	0.158	5	27
20	B. Wallace23XI Racing	23	Toyota	95	+23.251 3:07'42.453	1.652	6	30
21	D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing	11	Toyota	95	+23.286 3:07'42.488	0.035	6	16
22	J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club	42	Toyota	95	+23.348 3:07'42.550	0.062	8	15
23	C. CusterHaas Factory Team	41	Ford	95	+23.534 3:07'42.736	0.186	7	14
24	J. LoganoTeam Penske	22	Ford	95	+23.901 3:07'43.103	0.367	5	22
25	A. CindricTeam Penske	2	Ford	95	+24.009 3:07'43.211	0.108	5	12
26	J. BerryWood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	95	+24.332 3:07'43.534	0.323	5	11
27	E. JonesLegacy Motor Club	43	Toyota	95	+25.854 3:07'45.056	1.522	7	10
28	T. DillonKaulig Racing	10	Chevrolet	95	+26.103 3:07'45.305	0.249	7	9
29	Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports	38	Ford	95	+30.883 3:07'50.085	4.780	6	8
30	A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing	16	Chevrolet	95	+33.880 3:07'53.082	2.997	5	13
31	C. WareRick Ware Racing	51	Ford	95	+34.388 3:07'53.590	0.508	6	6
32	K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports	5	Chevrolet	95	+47.170 3:08'06.372	12.782	7	10
33	R. PreeceRFK Racing	60	Ford	95	+47.497 3:08'06.699	0.327	7	14
34	T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing	54	Toyota	95	+1'24.694 3:08'43.896	37.197	6	3
35	A. DillonRichard Childress Racing	3	Ford	80	+15 Laps 2:46'46.802	15 Laps	8	2
36	D. SuarezTrackHouse Racing	99	Chevrolet	50	+45 Laps 1:37'39.171	30 Laps	5	5
37	C. ZilischTrackHouse Racing	87	Chevrolet	49	+46 Laps 1:35'28.312	1 Lap	5