Yahoo Autos Christopher Bell Comes Through When It Counts to Earn Championship 4 Berth
For the second straight week, Christopher Bell left pit road after his final stop in third, but this time the Joe Gibbs Racing driver didn’t fall short at the checkered flag and won Sunday’s 4EVER 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Bell’s second victory this season and the sixth of his NASCAR Cup career guarantees him a berth in the championship four at Phoenix Raceway in two weeks. Entering the Round of Eight’s final race next weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Kyle Larson, the driver who defeated Bell last week at Las Vegas, is the only other competitor to have secured a position in the title round.
“That race was a whirlwind. I was ready to throw the towel in there in the second stage,” says Bell, who never ran in the top five at Homestead until lap 221 in the 267-lap race.
At one point, crew chief Adam Stevens attempted to encourage his driver over their two-way radio and Bell sarcastically responded, “OK. I’ll start trying.”
“I let my emotions get to me, that’s for sure,” Bell says. “Normally, I don’t do that. It’s no secret this track hasn’t been my favorite.”
Bell says they “threw the kitchen sink” at the car “as we went from being one of the worst cars on the track to being one of the best at the end.”
“It’s pretty incredible the turnaround we had today,” Bell says.
With 30 laps remaining in Sunday’s 267-lap race, the drivers made their last four-tire stops under the fifth and final caution period. William Byron’s crew was the quickest with a 9.3-second stop, Ryan Blaney’s crew second at 9.4 seconds and then came Bell at 10.4 seconds. When the race restarted with 25 laps remaining, the rundown showed Byron, Blaney and Bell, respectively. Blaney led one lap and Byron eight before Bell took the No. 1 position for good with 16 laps remaining.
Blaney’s Team Penske Ford performed better on long runs and pulled within 1.352 seconds of Bell with five laps remaining. However, Blaney ran out of time in his effort to catch Bell.
“We just needed laps,” Blaney says. “The long-run car was really good. I just couldn’t fire off for 10 laps or so. I think we were better in the hotter, slicker conditions when fire off speed didn’t matter as much, and it fell off quicker. It got a little cooler at the end, and we never really found the front-end speed and they did.”
Blaney’s second top-five and fourth top-10 finish in the playoffs paid huge dividends for the North Carolina driver. After a disqualification and then a reinstatement following the Las Vegas race, Blaney entered Homestead 17 points below the cutline; however, he emerged 10 points above it.
Disastrous 5 Minutes for JGR
Denny Hamlin and NASCAR Cup Series regular season champion Martin Truex Jr. entered Sunday’s 4EVER 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway above the playoff cutline. However, in a short five-minute span the two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers found themselves in a precarious position.
Hamlin was running in the top five when suddenly his Toyota shot into the wall on lap 236. While he was climbing from his damaged race car on pit road, Truex’s Toyota sputtered down pit road to his team’s stall. For the first time this season, an engine failure had sidelined a JGR car. The outcome – Truex finished 29th and Hamlin 30th, dropping both 17 points below the cutline.
Larson Dominates, But Gets Sandbagged
Entering Sunday’s 4EVER 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway many drivers acknowledged that Kyle Larson was the best at the 1.5-mile track because of the way he could ride the track’s outside wall, making him the fastest.
For most of the race, Larson proved his peers correct as he led three times for 96 laps. However, with 54 laps remaining in the 267-lap race Larson was second to leader Ryan Blaney as they entered pit road. Blaney slowed, Larson didn’t.
Larson’s Chevrolet bumped Blaney in the rear and plowed into the sand-filled barrels at the outside pit wall entrance. The barrels exploded, sending sand billowing into the air and onto the track. The race was stopped, and it took 12 minutes 35 seconds to replace the damaged barrels and clean up the track. Meanwhile, Larson drove his Chevrolet to the garage.
“I’m pretty upset at myself, more than anything,” said Larson, who finished 34th in the 36-car field. “I knew where the yellow line was and thought I was going to be under control getting there. He (Blaney) just slowed down, I locked the brakes up, slid to the right and clipped him and the barrels.
“I was just trying to push it as much as I could. He (Blaney) had a great car and I felt like if he was to come off pit road the leader, he was going to end up winning the race or beating me. I was just trying to maximize my pit-in.”
Smith Out at Kaulig Racing
Prior to Sunday’s 4EVER 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kaulig Racing announced Chandler Smith wouldn’t return to the organization in 2024.
Smith, who is seventh in the NASCAR Xfinity Series playoff standings, has recorded one victory, three poles, eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes this year. He will remain with Kaulig through the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Kaulig’s entire 2024 driver lineup will be announced in the coming weeks. The team has already said Daniel Hemric will drive full time in NASCAR’s Cup Series next year.
