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The Joe Gibbs Racing driver restarted third on
Lap 242 after teammate Denny Hamlin hit the wall for the fifth
caution.
In his No. 20 Toyota Camry, the 28-year-old Bell moved by Byron
with 15 laps to go and went on to record his sixth career Cup
win and second of 2023 (Bristol dirt race) by 1.651 seconds.
"That race was a whirlwind," said Bell, who led twice for 20
laps. "I was ready to throw the towel in there in the second
stage and I got really frustrated on the radio. We kept after
it. ... They gave me what I needed. Whenever we got some clean
air, this thing was good."
Last Sunday at Las Vegas, Bell caught Kyle Larson off the final
turn but could not pass him.
Bell's triumph advanced him to the Championship 4 in two weeks
at Phoenix Raceway, where he will join Larson and two other
drivers to be determined by next week's Round of 8 finale at
Martinsville Speedway's short track.
Last season at Martinsville, Bell earned a walk-off win to
advance to the championship weekend in the Arizona desert.
Added Bell, "This is better than a dream come true."
Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Byron and AJ Allmendinger rounded
out the top five.
Larson and Bell's wins top the standings, followed by Byron and
Blaney.
Four drivers reside under the cut line: Reddick, Hamlin, Martin
Truex Jr. and Chris Buescher.
After Ricky Stenhouse Jr. brought out the first caution by
hitting the Turn 2 wall, Larson captured Stage 1's bonus points
-- his eighth stage win in 2023 -- under the yellow flag by
beating Brad Keselowski.
In an uneventful Stage 2 that had drivers battling a tight
condition on their cars, Larson dominated almost completely, but
Team Penske driver Blaney passed him with his No. 12 Ford with
three laps to go for his fifth segment win.
Disaster struck for Larson with 54 laps left in the day's most
bizarre incident.
Trailing Blaney as they came to pit road, Larson rode in hot,
made slight contact with Blaney as the Ford driver slowed and
drilled the sand-filled barrels buttressing the pit-road wall to
cause a red-flag period.
"I was just maximizing all I could," said Larson, who led a
race-best 96 laps. "I didn't expect him to slow so early. ...
From my vantage point, (he) just slowed down a lot, but from
(watching a replay) it just looks like I bombed it in there."
With 32 laps to go, JGR's Hamlin hit the Turn 1 wall hard then
teammate Truex lost an engine, ending the day for both.
--Field Level Media
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