Bell makes late charge for lead and holds off Byron at COTA for 2nd straight NASCAR victory

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Christopher Bell is making the most of his late-race chances to seize victories.

Bell passed Kyle Busch with five laps to go, then held off Daytona 500 winner William Byron to win NASCAR’s first road course race of the season Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas.

The late-race drama produced his second consecutive victory after his overtime win in Atlanta a week earlier.

Once Bell cleared Busch, the Oklahoma driver had to make a desperate bid to keep his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in front of the hard-charging Byron in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, and the Toyota of 2023 race winner Tyler Reddick of 23X1 Racing.

Bell raced to his 11th career victory and is a multiple race winner for the fourth consecutive season. Busch, who led 43 of 95 laps in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, faded to fifth as his winless streak stretched to 60 races dating to 2023.

"These road courses races are just so much fun," Bell said. “(Busch) was doing such a good job running his race. He bobbled and allowed me to get out front. When he did, I just said, 'Don't beat yourself.'"

The furious nip-and-tuck finish could have ended in a crash that ruined someone's race and jumbled the field with a late caution flag. Busch and Bell have a heated history of collisions in Austin, notably last year when Busch confronted the younger driver over contact in a race where Bell finished second.

This time, everyone kept it clean all the way to the end.

“Amazing to have such respectful clean, hard racing. It was a beautiful way to end a race,” Bell said.

That didn't mean Byron wasn't pushing him hard. And Byron had his own battle with Reddick, who was looking for an opening to attack the front.

“I couldn’t never get beside (Bell). We’ve always raced well together, I didn’t want to move him blatantly,” Byron said.

Even Busch complimented Bell's driving.

“I’ll give Christopher credit," Busch said. “He ran me really hard.”

Bell’s crew chief, Adam Stevens, said the consecutive wins on a superspeedway oval and a road course show the team can fight for wins every week, starting with the next two races in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

“We don’t think there’s a track that we go to that we don’t have a a chance to win,” Stevens said. “We have everything we need to win every single weekend.”

Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott, started third and quickly dropped to the back when he spun by Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain in the first turn, but fought his way back through the field to fourth.

Connor Zilisch had a wild day in his Cup Series debut for Trackhouse. The 18-year-old started 14th and dropped back with contact in the first lap. He recovered to get back within in the top 15 by the start of the third stage.

That's when his day ended. Zilisch couldn't avoid a spin by teammate Daniel Suarez in lap 50, smashed into the wall, and had to scramble out of his car when it caught fire.

Elliott's road drought

Elliott leads active drivers with seven road course victories, but hasn't snared one since 2021 when he won twice He also has never won a road course or street race with a Next Gen car.

Elliott made up 17 positions in the final stage but was still upset about possible race win snuffed out by the bump from Chastain.

“It was the first lap of the dang race,” Elliott said. “Who knows. I would have loved to have been in the mix. Easy to say when you've had a bad day.”

Series future at COTA

NASCAR has to decide if it will return to Austin in 2026. The track has proven popular over the years with drivers, and has hosted F1 since 2012 and MotoGP since 2013. Speedway Motorsports rents the facility for race week, and track President Bobby Epstein has said he'd like to continue the partnership.

“We’ll take a look at ticket renewals, feedback from the fans who attended the race and the overall results before we talk with NASCAR about next year’s schedule," said Mike Burch, chief operating officer for Speedway Motorsports. "One of the biggest factors will be how the drivers compete on the new National Course, a move we made to put more action and laps in front of the fans.”

Up next

The Cup Series returns to ovals next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing