DAYTONA BEACH, Florida – Christopher Bell chased Joey Logano into the winding Daytona Road course on Sunday for his first race Cup victory and a coveted place in the NASCAR playoffs.
Bell won in his second race driving for Joe Gibbs Racing to give the team two stunning victories at Daytona International Speedway. Ty Gibbs, the 18-year-old grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs, won the Xfinity Series race Saturday night in his first outing in the national race.
Bell’s victory wasn’t that impressive, but he still delivered well ahead of schedule when he returned to JGR. Last year he was loaned to Leavine Family Racing for his rookie season, but Gibbs returned him to JGR this year.
It gave Bell a competitive Toyota, but a win, soon, was a big question.
“This is one of the highlights of my life,” Bell said. “I’ve prepared my whole life for this moment to compete in the Cup Series, last year was a learning curve for me. I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to run in the Cup and I definitely prepared to go to Joe Gibbs Racing “.
Bell had an unfortunate rookie season driving for Leavine with only seven top-ranked Toyotas, not as strong as Gibbs ’four-car fleet. Now driving some of NASCAR’s best cars, Bell joined Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell as surprise winners for the first time to start the season.
It is only the third time in NASCAR history that the first two races of the season were won by the first winners. It was first done in 1949 and 1950: the first two seasons of NASCAR.
Bell and McDowell now have two of the coveted 16 playoff beds, a worrying trend for midfield teams that need the 26 races of the regular season to sign up for the championship landscape. The winners of the race win automatic berths and the rest of the places are decided by the classification of the points.
“Having Christopher in the playoffs is a big deal,” Joe Gibbs said. “We don’t take it for granted.”
Meanwhile, McDowell backed his Daytona 500 victory with an eighth-place finish in his best career.
Bell had to chase Logano, who had got a decent advantage on the field, but was unable to defend himself from Bell once he had caught him. Logano finished second; last week, he and his teammate Brad Keselowski crashed out for the Daytona 500 victory.
“I hate being so close,” Logano said.
Denny Hamlin was the third to give Gibbs two cars in the top three. Kurt Busch finished fourth and Keselowski finished fifth to get a decent rebound from the Penske team.
Keselowski and Logano had their first interaction before the race as they crashed in the final lap competing with each other for the Daytona 500 victory a week ago.
“We’re as good as we can be,” Keselowski said.
Kevin Harvick finished sixth and AJ Allmendinger, in his first Cup race since the end of the 2018 season, finished seventh. It was the highest result in three Cup races for Kaulig Racing, an Xfinity Series team formed in 2016 that wants to be a full-time Cup next season.
Ryan Preece has been ninth for a couple of rankings in the top ten in Daytona. JTG-Daugherty Racing no longer has any letter guaranteeing Preece a place on the field every week and without it the team cannot promise to compete every week this season. With this start, Preece is currently seventh in the points standings.
Chase Elliott once again had the most dominant car, but his streak of four consecutive road racing victories with points was broken. He led 45 laps in the top race and was ahead when the precaution for rain 15 laps from the finish forced Hendrick Motorsports to make a strategic call.
Elliott changed track position for new tires, faced the lead and dropped to 15th place. He worked until fifth place, but turned when he bumped into Kurt Busch’s back. Elliott finished 21st.
“Precautions like this kind of mixed bag, who stays and who goes there, is kind of a gamble,” Elliott said. “I thought the tires were the right measure. But you go back to traffic and it’s so chaotic and it depends on who’s going through (the traffic) and who’s not and it determines how it shakes.”