Christopher Bell wins rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, N.C. — Mother Nature ultimately won Sunday and put Christopher Bell in victory lane after 249 of 400 laps in the Coca-Cola 600.
Bell earned his second win of the NASCAR Cup Series season. He led six times for 90 laps, including 41 of what became the final 42 laps of the night.
“It feels so good. To win or to lose, but just to have a great race to go off of, and a race that we led laps. We were able to pass cars. We lost the lead at times, and we were able to drive back to the lead, and had great pit stops. It was amazing to have a good race, and hopefully this is something we can build on and get back to being more consistent,” Bell said.
Bell was arguably class of the field. He took the lead for the first time on lap 121 and led 32 of the next 39 laps before a caution fell on lap 159.
Strategies shuffled Martin Truex Jr. and eventually Chase Elliott to the lead, and Christopher Bell back, but Bell came storming back.
On lap 189, 13 laps after a restart, Bell passed Bubba Wallace for second and then Byron for the lead and claimed stage two.
Bell held the lead through the stage caution, setting the stage for him and Byron to battle. They swapped the lead twice before Bell took it on lap 208.
Byron started dropping back after hitting the wall. That opened the door for Brad Keselowski who challenged Bell on the eventual final runs of the race.
Keselowski was second when NASCAR called the caution for rain on lap 246. Then, they threw the red flag for a lightning hold, during which a heavy rainstorm hit.
The rain eventually stopped. However, a representative for NASCAR told TRE that once it became clear that the checkered flag was going to fall “well past 2 a.m. ET,” officials decided to declare the race official – also citing high humidity as a detriment to getting the track dried in time.
Christopher Bell went to victory lane. Brad Keselowski had to settle for second.
“Yeah, it was pretty disappointing. I felt like we had a car to win the race. We kind of ran down the 20 car twice and just didn’t get to see it play out. Kind of slipped through our fingers there. Would have liked to have just had more laps and ran the Coke 600. I think we ran the Coke 350 today,” Keselowski said. “All in all, really happy with our performance. Car was really fast. Pit stops were phenomenal. Just didn’t get to see it through. Bummed for our team, bummed for everybody. But the weather is what the weather is.”
TOP-10 FINISHERS: Bell, Keselowski (led one lap) William Byron (led five times for 49 laps), Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs (led four times for 74 laps), Chase Elliott (led 2 laps), Ross Chastain (led 10 laps), Alex Bowman, Josh Berry
Martin Truex Jr. finished 12th after leading eight laps. Other leaders include 28th-place finisher Shane van Gisbergen (led 2 laps) and 16th-place finisher Michael McDowell (led 6 laps).
Kyle Larson arrived at the track when the fateful final caution fell so he never turned a lap Sunday. That left the reins of the No. 5 to Justin Allgaier who finished 13th.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com