DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Christopher Bell chased Joey Logano on Sunday’s winding Daytona Road course for his maiden Career Cup win and a coveted spot in the NASCAR playoffs.
Bell won for Joe Gibbs Racing in his second race to give the team some surprising wins at Daytona International Speedway. Ty Gibbs, the 18-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs, won the Xfinity Series race on Saturday night during his first career in the national series.
Bell’s win wasn’t all that staggering, but he still delivered much sooner than expected in his return to JGR. He was loaned out to Leavine Family Racing for his rookie season last year, but Gibbs pulled him back to JGR this year.
It gave Bell a competitive Toyota, but a win, soon, was in great demand.
“This is one of the highlights of my life,” said Bell. “I have been preparing my whole life to race in the Cup Series at this point, last year was such a learning curve for me. to Joe Gibbs Racing. “
Bell had a disappointing rookie season for Leavine with only seven top 10 finishes in Toyota’s, not as strong as Gibbs’s four-car fleet. Bell now drove some of the best cars in NASCAR, joining Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell as surprise first-time winners to kick off the season.
It’s only the third time in NASCAR history that the first two races of the season have been won by first-time winners. It was previously done in 1949 and 1950 – NASCAR’s first two seasons.
Bell and McDowell now have two of the coveted 16 playoff berths, a troubling trend for mid-pack teams needing all 26 regular season races to make their way to the championship. Race winners earn automatic berths and the remaining places are determined by the points classification.
“Having Christopher in the playoffs is a big deal,” said Joe Gibbs. ‘We don’t take that for granted.’ ‘
McDowell, meanwhile, backed up his Daytona 500 win with an eighth finish on the best road of his career.
Bell had to chase Logano, who had built a decent lead on the field, but was unable to fend off Bell once he caught him. Logano finished second; last week he and teammate Brad Keselowski crashed each other in the race for the Daytona 500 victory.
“I hate being so close,” Logano said.
Denny Hamlin was third and gave Gibbs two cars in the top three. Kurt Busch finished fourth and Keselowski finished fifth for a decent rebound from Team Penske.
Keselowski and Logano had their first interaction before the race since crashing on the last lap and racing each other for the Daytona 500 victory a week ago.
“We are as good as we can be,” said Keselowski.
Kevin Harvick finished sixth and AJ Allmendinger finished seventh in his first cup race since the 2018 season finale. It was the highest finish in three Cup races for Kaulig Racing, an Xfinity Series team founded in 2016 that aims to be a full-time Cup next season.
Ryan Preece was ninth for a pair of top 10 finishes at Daytona. JTG-Daugherty Racing no longer has a charter to guarantee Preece a spot in the field every week, and without it the team can’t promise it will race every week this season. With this start, Preece is currently seventh in the points classification.
Chase Elliott again had the most dominant car, but his streak of four consecutive wins in points-paying road races was broken. He was leading a race-high 45 laps and leading the way when caution for rain 15 laps from the finish forced Hendrick Motorsports to make a strategic decision.
Elliott swapped track for new tires, came out of the lead and dropped to 15th. He worked his way up to fifth place, but turned when he bumped into Kurt Busch. Elliott finished 21st.
“Precautions like that create a mixed bag, who stays and who goes, it’s a bit of a gamble,” said Elliott. “I thought tires were the right move. But when you get back into traffic it gets so chaotic and it depends on who gets through (traffic) and who doesn’t, and it determines how it shakes out.