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The win marked the first Cup Series win for
Bell, who was on newer tires than Logano at the end. The Joe
Gibbs Racing was making his 38th Cup start, and according to
Nascar.com, he became just the 15th Cup Series driver to capture
his first win on a road course.
"I don't know, man, this is one of the highlights of my life so
far," said Bell, who was driving in just his second race for
Gibbs.
Bell got the JGR ride after the team decided not to bring back
Erik Jones after the 2020 season.
"Just so incredibly thankful to be here at Joe Gibbs Racing," he
said. "I prepared my whole life for this moment, to race in the
Cup Series."
Bell said that he had doubts about catching Logano as the laps
wound down, but a series of late cautions help do the trick.
"I didn't think I was going to get there but Adam (Stevens, his
crew chief) on the pit box kept telling me I was going to get
there. I didn't believe it," said Bell, who won an Xfinity
Series race at the Road America road course in Wisconsin in
2019.
Logano, whose team made a decision to not pit for tires with 14
laps to go, finished second -- 2.1 seconds behind.
"The tires," said Logano, who led for 10 laps, when asked how he
got caught by Bell. "He's the one who got new tires."
Logano has just one win on a road circuit.
"We've made gains with our Mustang on road courses but we're not
quite good enough yet," he said.
Denny Hamlin, Bell's teammate, finished third.
Kurt Busch of Chip Ganassi Racing finished fourth and Logano's
Team Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski, was fifth.
Chase Elliott appeared to be cruising to a fifth-straight road
win as he led the first 28 laps conducted under green. But
trouble in the pits during a stop on Lap 28 knocked him back to
14th on the restart.
Elliott worked his way back up through the field and with 30
laps to go in the 70-lap event, he passed Bell and regained the
lead. Elliott led a race-best 44 laps, but more trouble struck
with six laps to go. He was running in the top five when he was
bumped from behind by Hamlin and spun out, eventually finishing
21st.
He was one of the drivers who pitted for tires with 14 laps
left.
"I thought (fresh) tires was the right move," Elliott said.
"Tires won the race. So, I think it was the right move. But you
get back in traffic and it just gets to be so chaotic. Made too
many mistakes. Went off track and just a bad deal."
Michael McDowell, the winner of last week's Daytona 500 and, as
a result, started on the front row Sunday, blew a tire that
caused him to overshoot the line heading into Turn 1 on the
first lap and was forced to the pits. He finished in eighth
place.
Two-time series champion Kyle Busch also had first-lap problems
when his car suffered damage after he was forced off the track
by Chase Briscoe. Busch, who won the Busch Clash on the road
course on Feb. 9, pitted and dropped to the rear of the field.
Yet, even in a race car that had a serious amount of sheet metal
cut off during the stop, Busch worked his way forward. He
finished 35th after hitting the wall with seven to go.
--Field Level Media
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