Christopher Bell came to Phoenix last November one win away from a NASCAR Cup Series championship. He left it dead last in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after a faulty brake rotor broke into pieces, sending him straight into the outside wall and tearing up those title hopes along with his race car.
Bell came back determined to not make the same mistake twice. He leaves with a trophy and some newfound confidence another appearance in the championship finale could have a whole different outcome.
Said Bell's crew chief, Adam Stevens: "It's a little bit cathartic."
Sunday's Shriners Children's 500 was also a statement race after the No. 20 team stumbled out of the gate this season. Two wrecks in three weeks left Bell behind the curve, leaving that bitter taste from a championship bid gone wrong.
But then came Phoenix redemption, where Bell looked shot out of a cannon in Friday's practice along with his Toyota teammates. From Denny Hamlin's pole run through Bell's drive on Sunday, Camrys dominated the weekend to the tune of 298 laps led.
Some offseason tweaks combined with NASCAR's new short track package tilted things Toyota's way. Bell clearly benefitted the most, driving a car so fast he was able to drive from 20th to the lead a little over 50 laps after the final restart.
"I know that those race cars don't come very often," Bell explained. "It was really, really nice to capitalize on that when you have a race car that good."
He wasn't the only one out front, with Toyotas as a whole backing up Hamlin's push behind the scenes to improve dramatically at the sport's championship track. In the first four races of the Next Gen era, they'd been shut out of victory lane at Phoenix and led just 15 of a possible 1,253 laps (1.2 percent).
"I couldn't be happier with the way today went," said Toyota's top owner Joe Gibbs, who placed three of his cars inside the top eight. "I think all of our cars … at some point showed strength and were up there. That's a good feeling."
Chevy's struggles throughout the weekend were icing on the cake, as signature team Hendrick Motorsports failed to put a single one of its four cars inside the top 10. It's an early sign that all Toyota might have to do is place a car in the Championship 4 to be in strong position to win their first title since 2019.
But Bell, turning 30 this year, doesn't want Phoenix to be lone notch on his belt entering his prime. With seven career wins now at seven different tracks, he's looking to match the all-around speed he's shown with consistency, week in and week out.
"We don't want to be a one or two-win team a year," Bell added. "We want to be the championship contender year after year, multiple race wins year after year."
Traffic Report
Green: RFK Racing. A runner-up finish for Chris Buescher was followed closely by owner/driver Brad Keselowski in fourth, their first top fives of the year after recording an uncharacteristic three DNFs in their first six starts. It's a much-needed shot in the arm to one of Ford's top programs heading to one of their better racetracks, Bristol, this coming weekend.
Yellow: Martin Truex Jr. A late-race caution gave Truex track position on the final restart, clean air he built into a six-second lead on the competition. But a green-flag run to the finish left him forced to make an extra stop, forcing a dramatic drive to seventh salvaging what could have been a much better afternoon.
Red: Austin Dillon. Is there anyone out there with worse luck than Dillon? He's the innocent victim in a Daytona 500 wreck five laps in. Next week at Atlanta, Martin Truex Jr. spins him out during a stack-up on Lap 3. And Sunday at Phoenix? Dillon couldn't make it seven laps until the spinning car of Derek Kraus was shoved up in front of him.
If you're keeping score at home, that's three crashes, less than 15 laps completed, and no top-15 finishes this year. Dillon's already 40 points behind the 16th and final playoff spot and entering desperation mode one month in.
Speeding Ticket: NASCAR's Short Track Package. The sport spent months of R&D work this offseason on the Next Gen car, testing solutions to a short track package that left everyone unable to pass at some of the sport's most exciting bullrings: Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond and Phoenix.
This weekend, Bell showed off some slight improvements, moving up through traffic to take the win. However, much of the race's second half showcased more of the "running in place" behind him we've seen from the Next Gen car at these tracks, drivers stalled out in traffic behind another car.
Post-race comments from drivers were very politically correct, focused on the car driving "different" rather than "improved." Even the winner, Bell, said, "I'm sure that the racing probably didn't look much better." There's more work to do.
Oops!
Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano had a rocky start this season go that much worse after John Hunter Nemechek bumped the No. 22 through the tri-oval on Lap 206. The resulting wreck took out Logano, Corey LaJoie and Kraus while leaving Logano frustrated over how he was raced.
"My bad. I didn't mean to get into the 22, he slowed up way early"- John Hunter Nemechek https://t.co/YDcFxAATGV pic.twitter.com/F41Czogrsd
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 10, 2024
"Just overdrove the corner behind me and wrecked us …" Logano said. "He drove straight in the back of me and he needs to be man enough to own up to that."
To Nemechek's credit, he went out of his way to apologize after the race.
"I really hate what happened with Joey," Nemechek said. "I got into him. I will call him, Roger [Penske, Logano's owner] and Paul [Wolfe, Logano's crew chief] to talk about it. I made a mistake there and I own it."
