Christopher Bell wins for the first time in the NASCAR Cup

(Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Piloting the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for just the second time, Christopher Bell passed and held off Joey Logano in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford to score his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course. Bell won Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 on the 14-turn, 3.61-mile track by 2.119 seconds. He led five go-arounds in the 70-lap event, including the final two after stealing the lead. The win came in Bell’s 38th Cup start, and he becomes the 15th NASCAR driver to win his first race on a road course. Logano finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin in third. Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski were fourth and fifth, respectively. Kevin Harvick came in sixth, and AJ Allmendinger was seventh. Last week’s Daytona 500 winner, Michael McDowell, placed eight. Ryan Preece and Alex Bowman rounded out the top 10. This is the third instance of a season opening with back-to-back first-time winners, and first in the modern era. The first two times were 1949 and 1950, literally the first years of NASCAR’s existence, so this one is pretty special and rare. Chase Elliott won Stage 1 on Lap 16, leading all but one lap from the pole position. Bell is credited with a lap led in the race’s first portion. Hamlin took Stage 2 on Lap 34. He led the last four circuits of the stage, taking the lead from Allmendinger. Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet actually dominated the day overall, pacing the field for a race-high 44 laps. But with 12 laps to go, Elliott drove off track. He made a major save, but it dropped him back to 14th. A caution came out moments later, as Tyler Reddick’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet ran into an off-track sign and set on fire in the grass. Elliott worked his way back up into the top five, but with six laps to go, he tried to pull a crossover on Keselowski, and instead, Hamlin bumped him from behind and sent Elliott spinning. Elliott ultimately finished 21st, ending his road-course win streak at four.

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Race Results

#	Car	Driver	Sponsors
1	20	Christopher Bell	Rheem
2	22	Joey Logano	Shell / Pennzoil
3	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express
4	1	Kurt Busch	Monster Energy
5	2	Brad Keselowski	Discount Tire
6	4	Kevin Harvick	Mobil 1
7	16	A.J. Allmendinger	Hyperice
8	34	Michael McDowell	Love's Travel Stops
9	37	Ryan Preece	Kroger / Coca-Cola
10	48	Alex Bowman	Ally
11	17	Chris Buescher	Fastenal
12	19	Martin Truex, Jr.	Bass Pro Shops
13	41	Cole Custer	Dixie Vodka
14	43	Erik Jones	Petty's Garage
15	12	Ryan Blaney	Menards / Libman
16	99	Daniel Suarez	iFly
17	10	Aric Almirola	Smithfield
18	47	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	Cottonelle
19	96	Ty Dillon	Toyota Certified Used Vehicles
20	6	Ryan Newman	Castrol Carbon Neutral
21	9	Chase Elliott	NAPA Auto Parts
22	38	Anthony Alfredo	The Pete Store
23	15	James Davison	Signing Day Sports
24	77	Justin Haley	AirMed Care Network
25	51	Cody Ware	Nurtec ODT
26	23	Bubba Wallace	Door Dash
27	53	Garrett Smithley	Clix Wipers
28	78	Scott Heckert	Motorsport Games
29	66	Timmy Hill	CrashClaimsR.us
30	5	Kyle Larson	Nations Guard
31	7	Corey LaJoie	Netflix
32	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford Performance Racing School
33	24	William Byron	Axalta
34	3	Austin Dillon	Dow Mobility Science
35	18	Kyle Busch	Interstate Batteries
36	52	Josh Bilicki	Jacob Companies
37	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Motorcraft / Quick Lane
38	8	Tyler Reddick	CAT Rental Store
39	42	Ross Chastain	McDonald's
40	00	Quin Houff	Mane 'N Tail