Christopher Bell won his third race in a row on Sunday claiming the win in the Shriner’s Children 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
William Byron began the day on the pole with the first incident came on lap four when Katherine Legge spun off turn two by herself. Bumping on the restart lead to a spun by Ricky Stenhouse on lap 10 with some drivers opting for pitstops. Joey Logano would grab the lead on the second restart but would be penalized with a drive though after it was determined he went from below the yellow line too soon. Byron would go onto win the stage with Tyler Reddick, Ryan Preece, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry, Carson Hocevar, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson all getting stage points behind him.
After working his way up, Austin Cindric would take the lead on lap 89 with Michael McDowell locking his car up and making contact with the wall resultin gin a yellow. On the restart close racing led to multiple cars taking damage with a yellow coming out. Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, Noah Gragson, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Riley Herbst, Cole Custer, Alex Bowman, and Shane Van Gisbergen all took damage with some having to retire for the day.
ANOTHER PHOTO FINISH AT PHOENIX!
Christopher Bell holds off Denny Hamlin and beats him to the finish line to get his third win in a row! pic.twitter.com/gyrSibKFSk
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) March 9, 2025
Logano would work his way to the lead on the alternate tire and began to pull away before Bell would close the gap and win the second stage. Legge would have her second spin of the day on lap 216 this time collecting Daniel Suarez who was running sixth. Under the caution Cody Ware would lose a tire. The race resumed on lap 224 with Bell out front until Ryan Preece would overtake him on lap 236. Wallace would then bring out a caution on lap 266 allowing most drivers to put on new alternate tires.
Blaney would blow up on lap 290 with Bell back out front. Some took this as a chance to put on used alternate tires. The final caution came on lap 305 when Ty Gibbs hit the wall. This set up a battle between Bell, Hamlin and Larson with Bell claiming the win in the end.
The win was the second closest in the Cup Series at Phoenix. Bell becomes the first driver to win three in a row in a next gen car.
Phoenix Raceway Cup Series Results
March 9, 2025
|
POSITION
|
START
|
LED
|
BEHIND
|
PTS
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
C. Bell#20
|
11
|
105
|
Winner
|
|
|
2 |
D. Hamlin#11
|
10
|
3
|
0.049
|
|
|
3 |
K. Larson#5
|
17
|
0
|
0.097
|
|
|
4 |
J. Berry#21
|
4
|
0
|
0.308
|
|
|
5 |
C. Buescher#17
|
13
|
0
|
0.569
|
|
|
6 |
W. Byron#24
|
1
|
84
|
0.656
|
|
|
7 |
A. Bowman#48
|
32
|
0
|
0.952
|
|
|
8 |
K. Busch#8
|
15
|
0
|
1.101
|
|
|
9 |
Z. Smith#38
|
26
|
0
|
1.288
|
|
|
10 |
C. Elliott#9
|
6
|
0
|
1.378
|
|
|
11 |
R. Chastain#1
|
24
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
12 |
J. Nemechek#42
|
36
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
13 |
J. Logano#22
|
2
|
81
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
14 |
A. Dillon#3
|
21
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
15 |
R. Preece#60
|
28
|
34
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
16 |
T. Dillon#10
|
25
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
17 |
E. Jones#43
|
5
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
18 |
A. Cindric#2
|
14
|
6
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
19 |
T. Gilliland#34
|
27
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
20 |
T. Reddick#45
|
9
|
0
|
1 Lap
|
|
|
21 |
R. Stenhouse Jr#47
|
22
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
|
22 |
A. Allmendinger#16
|
16
|
0
|
2 Laps
|
|
|
23 |
D. Suárez#99
|
31
|
0
|
5 Laps
|
|
|
24 |
C. Ware#51
|
35
|
0
|
7 Laps
|
|
|
25 |
T. Gibbs#54
|
34
|
0
|
8 Laps
|
|
|
26 |
N. Gragson#4
|
33
|
0
|
9 Laps
|
|
|
27 |
R. Blaney#12
|
12
|
0
|
23 Laps
|
|
|
28 |
M. McDowell#71
|
7
|
0
|
23 Laps
|
|
|
29 |
B. Wallace#23
|
19
|
0
|
47 Laps
|
|
|
30 |
K. Legge#78
|
37
|
0
|
102 Laps
|
|
|
31 |
S. Van Gisbergen#88
|
29
|
0
|
212 Laps
|
|
|
32 |
C. Custer#41
|
23
|
0
|
213 Laps
|
|
|
33 |
B. Keselowski#6
|
20
|
0
|
213 Laps
|
|
|
34 |
J. Haley#7
|
8
|
0
|
214 Laps
|
|
|
35 |
C. Briscoe#19
|
30
|
0
|
214 Laps
|
|
|
36 |
C. Hocevar#77
|
3
|
0
|
214 Laps
|
|
|
37 |
R. Herbst#35
|
18
|
0
|
214 Laps
|
|
