BRISTOL, Tenn. — Christopher Bell held on through a restart eight laps from the end to beat Tyler Reddick and win the NASCAR Cup Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Sunday night.

Bell was a whiz-kid dirt racing sensation growing up, and that experience helped the Joe Gibbs Racing driver to his fifth Cup Series victory.

“This place is so much fun, whether it’s dirt or concrete,” Bell said.

Reddick was second for a second straight season, followed by Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Briscoe.

Bell’s last challenge came after defending race winner Kyle Busch spun with 15 laps left. Bell took off on the restart and widened his lead over Reddick.

Reddick, who won the second stage, was closing in on the last lap when the 16th and final caution came out, instantly ending the race.

Kyle Larson, like Bell a dirt racing supernova who started from pole, won the first stage and took only fuel – no fresh tires – before the final segment. But Larson spun on his own 96 laps from the end, had to pit, and restarted at the back of the field.

His race ended for good some 20 laps later after bumping several times with Ryan Preece. Larson, the winner last week at Richmond, drove into the garage.

LOGANO’S UP AND DOWN WEEKEND

It wasn’t the outing two-time NASCAR champ Joey Logano wanted on the Bristol dirt.

Logano, who won the truck race Saturday night, struggled to find his way and was behind the wall with his hood up less than halfway through.

“It was an eventful face for the short amount of laps we got to run,” Logano said. “It seemed like every wreck in front of me, I got up in the middle of it.”

Logano thought he had a competitive car, but he broke his steering on a hard hit, then “clobbered a fence after that.”

Logano finished 37th – last place. It’s the second time that’s happened this season to the reigning champion, the other being at Las Vegas last month. He only had two last-place finishes in his NASCAR career before 2023.

 

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