BRISTOL, TN. – Christopher Bell, of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota), held off Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, and several other NASCAR Cup Series stars with dirt racing backgrounds to win the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, picking up his first win of the 2023 season and the fifth win of his Cup career.
Bell took the lead to start Stage 3 after staying out under the final stage break, then held it throughout the final 100 laps thanks in part to running all the way up on the cushion to hold off Reddick, Briscoe, and others.
“I just needed a little bit more on the top (of the track),” said Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang. “I felt like I was OK. I just wasn’t quite as good. I thought the 45 (Tyler Reddick) was definitely probably the best. The 20 (Christopher Bell), I felt like I could kind of pace him, but it was going to be nearly impossible to pass him. There were a couple of times I was close in (turns) one and two. I feel like I had my hands tied the whole time. I needed to be a little bit better. Overall, an awesome day for our Magical Vacation Planner Ford Mustang. A good, solid points night for us, which is something we haven’t had all season long. Wish we could’ve gotten the win. I thought it was an awesome race. I hope the fans thought it was, too. I had a lot of fun in the car.”
Briscoe earned his first top-five and second top-10 of the season, It was also his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts on dirt at Bristol
This was Briscoe’s best finish so far this year. His previous best was seventh on March 12 at Phoenix Raceway. This was his third straight top-15. He finished 15th March 26 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, and 12th last Sunday at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.
Briscoe finished seventh in Stage 1 to earn four bonus points and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.
There were 14 caution periods for a total of 73 laps, including the final lap, as the race ended under caution.
All but 10 of the 37 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.
Bell leaves Bristol as the new championship leader with a 13-point advantage over second-place Ross Chastain.
Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing (Toyota)
SHR Race Finish:
● Chase Briscoe (Started 14th, Finished 5th / Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)
● Kevin Harvick (Started 26th, Finished 9th / Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)
● Ryan Preece (Started 8th, Finished 24th / Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)
● Aric Almirola (Started 19th, Finished 31st / Running, completed 240 of 250 laps)
SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (3rd with 255 points, 26 out of first)
● Chase Briscoe (20th with 163 points, 118 out of first)
● Ryan Preece (27th with 108 points, 173 out of first)
● Aric Almirola (29th with 101 points, 180 out of first)
Harvick earned his fifth top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts on dirt at Bristol.
“It just takes me too long to get going. It’s not that we don’t have a good car or can’t do it, it just takes me forever to figure out where I need to be,” said Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Ford Mustang. “The more worn out and nasty the racetrack gets, the better I am, but it just took me too long to figure it out.”
This was Harvick’s second straight top-10. He finished fifth last Sunday at Richmond.
Preece finished fourth in Stage 1 to earn seven bonus points.
“I think if we could’ve kept track position, we had a top-10 car,” said Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang. “But when it got slick like that, I don’t know how many people were actually moving forward, but it was just trying and hold on. Those last 75 laps or so, I mean, once you lose track position after Stage 1, man, you guys saw it, guys stayed out and they maintained it. What are you gonna do at that point? I don’t care if Chad (Johnston, crew chief) had a magic wand and I had a special set of tires that were staggered special, it wouldn’t have mattered. You just can’t do anything. There’s no grip anywhere. But that’s the third week in a row we’ve run top-10. It starts with running there to winning races, and we’ve shown speed, so that’s something. You’ve got speed but, ultimately, it’s certainly frustrating when you’re not getting the results of where you’re running and not really due to something that you can really control. But, at the end of the day, the clock resets at midnight. We’re moving forward and we’re gonna go to Martinsville with every bullet loaded, so we’ll be good.”
Almirola finished 10th in Stage 2 to earn a bonus point.
“I tried,’ said Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang. “I was out of my comfort zone already running up there and I was doing way better than I thought I was capable, and I started really getting a feel for it and a rhythm and started to get comfortable. Then I went down into turn one and tried a little bit harder and slid through the cushion and got in the fence and broke the right-rear toe link, and then we lost 10 laps changing the right-rear toe link. I’m just disappointed in myself and mad at myself for throwing away a good finish, but I was trying and just made a mistake.”
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the NOCO 400 on Sunday, April 16 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
