Christopher Bell reached Victory Lane at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, completing a Round of 16 sweep in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs for Joe Gibbs Racing. He led the final four laps of the race and finished 0.343 seconds ahead of RFK Racing driver and co-owner, Brad Keselowski. Notably, Keselowski had been trying to break a 51-race winless streak, which he brutally came close to breaking on the final lap as he bumped Bell, but to no avail.
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The No. 20 driver joined his teammates, Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe, as playoff winners. Toyota now remains unbeaten in the 10-race run to the championship. Spire Motorsports driver Zane Smith finished in third place, followed by Team Penske drivers Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano. For Bell, it was his fourth victory of the year, and it broke a 24-race winless streak.
The excessive tire wear at the track resulted in a season-high of 14 caution flags. Drivers and teams struggled with the right-side tires and required far more pit stops than usual. It was the 14th and final caution of the day that produced the most drama. It set up a four-lap shoot-out between the drivers on old tires and new tires.
Carson Hocevar and Smith, who were both on the front row during the restart, were on old tires and moved up as the green flag fell. Bell was initially unsure which lane to choose, but went with the bottom as the Hocevar and Smith went wide. He reasoned, “I’ll tell you what, I was nervous about the choice, I didn’t know if I wanted the bottom or the top. I was hoping that those guys on old tires would push up, and they did.”
Christopher Bell holds off a hard-charging Brad Keselowski to WIN at Bristol! pic.twitter.com/BXPbFNWroq
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) September 14, 2025
He took the lead immediately and kept it till the very end. The fourth Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Ty Gibbs, had an extremely well-crafted race as well. He led a career-high 201 laps in the No. 54 Camry XSE. But before he could see things out, he missed the pit row and baldspotted a tire. He ultimately finished in 10th place after losing all the momentum he had gained.
The four drivers who succumbed to the challenge and failed to advance to the next round were Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, and Josh Berry. The Round of 12 will begin at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway next weekend. Further races at Kansas and Charlotte will determine who proceeds to the Round of 8.
