Christopher Bell earned his first Cup victory on the concrete at Bristol Motor Speedway as Joe Gibbs Racing swept the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Bell charged from fourth to first on the final restart and led the last four laps to join teammates Chase Briscoe (Darlington) and Denny Hamlin (Gateway) as playoff winners. It’s the fourth victory of the season for Bell, who ended a 24-race winless drought with his 13th career victory.
Brad Keselowski finished second, followed by Zane Smith, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano.
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Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen and Josh Berry were eliminated as the field was cut from 16 to 12 drivers after Bristol.
In the reseeded playoff standings for the second round, Denny Hamlin is the leader at 3,034 points followed by Kyle Larson (3,032), William Byron (3,032), Christopher Bell (3,028), Ryan Blaney (3,027), Chase Briscoe (3,018), Chase Elliott (3,013), Bubba Wallace (3,009), Austin Cindric (3,008), Joey Logano (3,007), Ross Chastain (3,007) and Tyler Reddick (3,006).
Here’s the finishing order at Bristol
1. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota
2. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford
3. Zane Smith, No. 38 Ford
4. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford
5. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford
6. Corey Heim, No. 67 Toyota
7. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet
8. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet
9. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Toyota
10. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota
11. Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford
12. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet
13. Justin Haley, No. 7 Chevrolet
14. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota
15. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota
16. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet
17. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Chevrolet
18. Riley Herbst, No. 35 Toyota
19. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet
20. Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota
21. Ryan Preece, No. 60 Ford
22. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Chevrolet
23. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford
24. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Ford
25. Austin Hill, No. 33 Chevrolet
26. Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 88 Chevrolet
27. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet
28. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet
29. Cody Ware, No. 51 Ford
30. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford
31. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
32. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet
33. Cole Custer, No. 41 Ford
34. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
35. Chad Finchum, No. 66 Ford
36. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet
37. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet
38. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
39. Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford
