Christopher Bell Wins First Career NASCAR Cup Race at Daytona

Los Angeles Times

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – RIS – Christopher Bell won his first career NASCAR Cup race in the O’Reilly 253 race on the Daytona International Speedway road course.  Joey Logano had gone out to a lead as Bell, who had taken tires on a late caution, motored by him late in the race and went on to victory.

“I just kept doing what I was doing all day long,” Bell said. Whenever we took the green flag, I felt like I was really patient. Kyle (Busch) tried to go three-wide around me at the start. I knew that I was okay. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) kept asking what I needed in the car and I didn’t really need anything. Just took my time to get going, get up to speed and really proud to be here.”

It was the second time Logano was leading the race on the final lap, only to be denied winning.  In last week’s Daytona 500, Logano was leading when his teammate Brad Keselowski ran into his leading car.  This time, Bell made a clean pass and rolled on to the win.

Neither Bell no Logano had issues with the infield, bus stop or front stretch chicane, but Bell, who was near the front of the pack for a good portion of the race, was able to hold off Logano to get that first-ever Cup Series win.

Chase Elliott, who led 44 of 70 lap likely regrets that his run of dominance on road courses ended. The race was his to lose with 14 laps remaining, but he pitted for rain tires; he lost several positions on the restart — Logano stayed out — then had to fight from spinning out in the grass. His race was essentially finished after he spun out fighting for position with five laps left.

Denny Hamlin finished third. Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were fourth and fifth, respectively. Kevin Harvick came in sixth, and AJ Allmendinger was seventh. Last week’s Daytona 500 winner, Michael McDowell, placed eighth. Ryan Preece and Alex Bowman rounded out the top 10.

Chase Elliott won Stage 1 on Lap 16, leading all but one lap from the pole position. Bell is credited with a lap led in the race’s first portion. Hamlin took Stage 2 on Lap 34. He led the last four circuits of the stage, taking the lead from Allmendinger.

Bell admitted he had to get a lot of seat time to master running a road course, even with experience in the Xfinity Series, but admitted he liked the challenge.

“The superspeedway has been horrible for me, but this road course, we should make this an every year event.”

It was a big weekend for car owner Joe Gibbs.  On Saturday, he watched his grandson win the NASCAR Xfinity series race on Saturday.  Just a day later, Bell, in a JGR car won the Cup race.  Toyota (ThorSport Racing) won the truck race on Friday night, the Xfinity race on Sunday, and the Cup race today.  That's a perfect 3-0 record, with Gibbs cars winning two of them.

Having seen only road courses and the high banked superspeedway that is Daytona, next week with be a different animal.  The drivers and crews will head down the Florida peninsula to Homestead to race on the mile and a half track that used to host the championship race in years’ past.  Maybe it’s a guess, but I imagine many of the combatants will welcome something familiar.

Unofficial Results: O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 At Daytona, Daytona Road Course, 3.61 - Mile Paved: February 21, 2021

Fin, St, Driver, Car, Laps, Stage 1 Pos, Stage 2 Pos, Pts, Status, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts
1) 12, Christopher Bell, No. 20 Rheem Toyota, 70, , 4, 47, Running, 3, 5, 5
2) 11, Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 70, 2, 3, 52, Running, 2, 10,
3) 4, Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota, 70, 3, 1, 52, Running, 1, 5, 1
4) 17, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, 70, 5, 2, 48, Running, 2, 2,
5) 15, Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford, 70, 4, , 39, Running, , ,
6) 5, Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford, 70, 9, , 33, Running, , ,
7) 34, * AJ Allmendinger(i), No. 16 Hyperice Chevrolet, 70, , 9, 0, Running, 1, 2,
8) 2, Michael McDowell, No. 34 FR8 Auctions Ford, 70, , , 29, Running, , ,
9) 6, * Ryan Preece, No. 37 Kroger/Coca-Cola Chevrolet, 70, , , 28, Running, , ,
10) 36, Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 70, , , 27, Running, , ,
11) 30, Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford, 70, 10, , 27, Running, , ,
12) 19, Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 70, 7, 5, 35, Running, , ,
13) 13, Cole Custer, No. 41 Dixie Vodka Ford, 70, , 8, 27, Running, , ,
14) 37, Erik Jones, No. 43 Petty's Garage Chevrolet, 70, , , 23, Running, , ,
15) 27, Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Libman Ford, 70, , , 22, Running, , ,
16) 35, Daniel Suarez, No. 99 iFly Chevrolet, 70, , , 21, Running, 1, 2,
17) 26, Aric Almirola, No. 10 Smithfield Ford, 70, , , 20, Running, , ,
18) 16, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Cottonelle Chevrolet, 70, , , 19, Running, , ,
19) 38, * Ty Dillon(i), No. 96 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota, 70, , , 0, Running, , ,
20) 33, Ryan Newman, No. 6 Castrol Ford, 70, , , 17, Running, , ,
21) 1, Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 70, 1, 6, 31, Running, 3, 44, 1
22) 31, Anthony Alfredo #, No. 38 The Pete Store Ford, 70, , , 15, Running, , ,
23) 39, James Davison, No. 15 Signing Day Sports Chevrolet, 70, , , 14, Running, , ,
24) 20, Justin Haley(i), No. 77 AirMedCare Network Chevrolet, 70, , , 0, Running, , ,
25) 21, Cody Ware(i), No. 51 Nurtec ODT Chevrolet, 70, , , 0, Running, , ,
26) 10, Bubba Wallace, No. 23 DoorDash Toyota, 70, , , 11, Running, , ,
27) 25, Garrett Smithley(i), No. 53 Clix Wipers Chevrolet, 70, , , 0, Running, , ,
28) 28, Scott Heckert, No. 78 MotorsportGames.com Ford, 70, , , 9, Running, , ,
29) 40, * Timmy Hill(i), No. 66 CRASHClaimsR.US Toyota, 70, , , 0, Running, , ,
30) 8, Kyle Larson, No. 5 Nations Guard Chevrolet, 70, 6, , 12, Running, , ,
31) 7, Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Netflix Chevrolet, 70, , , 6, Running, , ,
32) 18, Chase Briscoe #, No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford, 70, , , 5, Running, , ,
33) 22, William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 69, , 7, 8, Running, , ,
34) 3, Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow Mobility Service Chevrolet, 69, 8, , 6, Running, , ,
35) 14, Kyle Busch, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, 69, , 10, 3, Running, , ,
36) 23, Josh Bilicki, No. 52 Jacob Companies Ford, 68, , , 1, Brakes, , ,
37) 32, Matt DiBenedetto, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 65, , , 1, Running, , ,
38) 24, Tyler Reddick, No. 8 CatRentalStore.com Chevrolet, 58, , , 1, Accident, , ,
39) 9, Ross Chastain, No. 42 McDonald's Chevrolet, 26, , , 1, Accident, , ,
40) 29, Quin Houff, No. 00 Mane 'n Tail Chevrolet, 3, , , 1, Engine, , ,
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie

Time: 2 Hrs, 59 Mins, 32 Secs
Race Distance: 70 Laps, 252.7 Miles
Average Speed: 84.452 MPH
Margin of Victory: 2.119 Seconds

Stage 1 Top 10: 9, 22, 11, 2, 1, 5, 19, 3, 4, 17
Stage 2 Top 10: 11, 1, 22, 20, 19, 9, 24, 41, 16, 18

Caution Flags: 8 for 12 laps;
Laps: 3-3 (Debris on Backstretch [None]);
13-13 (Debris Turn 12 [None]);
18-19 (Stage 1 Conclusion [None]);
28-29 (No. 12, 42 Incident Turn 6 [None]);
36-37 (Stage 2 Conclusion [None]);
57-58 (Weather [66]);
60-60 (No. 8 Incident Turn 3 [38]);
62-62 (No. 7, 9 Incident Turn 5 [78]).

Lead Changes: 12 among 7 drivers;
C. Elliott 1-12;
C. Bell 13;
C. Elliott 14-28;
*. Allmendinger(i) 29-30;
D. Hamlin 31-35;
D. Suarez 36-37;
K. Busch 38;
C. Bell 39-40;
C. Elliott 41-57;
J. Logano 58-61;
K. Busch 62;
J. Logano 63-68;
C. Bell 69-70.

Busch Pole Award: Chase Elliott, No. 9
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: Anthony Alfredo, No. 38

Comments: Christopher Bell has won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 At DAYTONA at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course, his first victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Prior to the start, the following vehicle(s) dropped to the rear of the field for the reasons indicated: No. 43 (Engine change - Daytona 500), No. 77 (Multiple inspection failures), No. 53 (Unapproved adjustments).

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