By Aaron Bearden

Takeaways from NASCAR’s first 2024 trip to the site of the championship race, Phoenix Raceway

Main Takeaway

Sometimes one team just has ‘em covered. 

Christopher Bell was the class of the field Sunday, with greater long-run speed than anyone else could muster. When he got to the front during the final run, Bell cruised to a 5.465-second victory – the largest of NASCAR’s Next Gen era. 

“You don’t get cars like that very often,” Bell said. “Just super, super proud. Proud to be on this 20 car.” 

Bell had entered Sunday amid a streak of poor results. Save for a third-place run in the Daytona 500, the Joe Gibbs Racing star was on a miserable tear, having failed to make the Busch Light Clash and finished 33rd or worse in the other three of his prior four Cup starts. 

It’s a stretch unbecoming of Bell and his talents. The 29-year-old Toyota ace is a consistent contender. He’s won races in four-consecutive years and proven his place alongside veteran teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.

The 36th-place run that kicked off the streak was the most heartbreaking. Back in November, Bell had entered Phoenix among the Championship 4 for the second-straight year. But a mechanical failure ended his day early, leading the young star into the offseason with disappointment. 

“I was not angry,” Bell said when asked of his emotions before the win. “I was just sad. I don’t know. I suck at trying to stay upbeat after a run of bad races. Atlanta was furthest from my fault, but it’s still a 30-whatever-fourth place finish. We had a 33rd-place finish last week.

“I was pretty sad. I try not to let that affect my driving.” 

Early in the race Bell wasn’t sure Phoenix would go much better. It wasn’t until he got out of traffic and near the front in Stage 2 when he realized a win was within reach. 

One dominant final stage later, Bell is left the site of last year’s heartbreak with a statement result that speaks to the strength of his team. 

He hopes it’s a sign of things to come. 

“I just hope that this gives a little bit more insight to the world the capability that the 20 team has,” Bell said. “I feel like the last two years through the Next Gen era, myself and everyone inside of our team have seen glimpses of the potential, but haven’t really been able to live it to fruition yet.

“I say this a lot, and the rest is up to us to make it happen, but I feel like this is just the beginning. Making the Final 4 and winning one or two races a year, that’s not our final goal. We don’t want to be a one- or two-win team a year. We want to be the championship contender year after year, multiple race wins year after year.” 

Good, Bad and Ugly

Good: RFK Racing gets back on track

RFK Racing needed that one. 

The organization was the breakout team of 2023. After struggling for wins and playoff success in recent years, the recently-rebranded organization took big steps in the second year with Brad Keselowski in the fold as an owner-driver. 

Both Keselowski and Chris Buescher made the playoffs. Buescher did so with three regular season wins and cracked the Round of 8. Both drivers were consistent throughout the season, sitting well within the top-16 in points for the majority of the year. 

They entered 2024 with momentum and optimism, but the organization got off to an inauspicious start. Keselowski suffered DNFs in both Daytona and Atlanta, dropping to 33rd in the standings. Buescher notched a top-10 in Atlanta, but crashed out of Las Vegas with a loose wheel that also resulted in two-race suspensions for front tire changer Jakob Prall and jack man Nick Patterson. The duo were present in Phoenix due to an appeal from RFK, but it was just delaying the inevitable. 

There’s still plenty of time to right the ship, but RFK needed to catch a break. The company finally did in Phoenix. 

Keselowski was a consistent contender throughout the day, running inside of the top-10 for the bulk of the afternoon. He dodged a Denny Hamlin spin and moved forward late after a two-tire pit call to notch a fourth-place result. 

“It was a good solid day for us,” Keselowski said. “We want to win these races but we didn’t have anywhere near the speed the 20 car did, I don’t know if anybody did to be quite honest. We put ourselves in good position with a good pit call and a great restart at the end and we just tried to execute. 

“The potential is there. We are just one step away and we are going to keep working on it until we get there.”

Buescher spent much of the day behind his teammate. But a wise decision to top off on fuel after an early Stage 3 crash allowed the Texan to stay out when others pitted following another incident. He then stretched his fuel to score a runner-up result. 

“We had a rough go last week,” he said. “This was good to get everybody back to prove that we’re in this together and we’re going to win one of these things as a team. That was almost a win today. We were close in a way, but like we were just talking, I couldn’t even see the 20. 

“That was going to be a tough one to battle for a win. But (I’m) really impressed with everybody today – did a heck of a job, worked hard to get back up where we needed to be at the end.” 

Bad: Hamlin, Reddick drop when it counts

Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick looked like contenders during the bulk of Sunday’s race – which made their finishes outside the top-five all the more disappointing. 

The duo each led a race-high 68 laps and scored strong stage points. Reddick won the opening stage, while Hamlin finished third in both stages. But Hamlin’s day went awry when the pair made contact on a Stage 3 restart, sending him into a spin. 

Hamlin had to rally to salvage the day. Reddick kept rolling but faded. In the end the pair finished 10th (Reddick) and 11th (Hamlin), well short of where they intended to be based on their early pace. 

Ugly: Logano goes off on Nemechek after Stage 3 crash

Joey Logano wasn’t having any excuses after his unceremonious exit from Sunday’s race.

The two-time Cup champ was a lap down and struggling heading into Stage 3. His day took a turn for the worse on Lap 206 when Logano was his from behind by John Hunter Nemechek, sending him into a spin. His crash ultimately collected Corey LaJoie, Derek Kraus, Zane Smith and Josh Berry. Logano’s day was done in 34th afterward. 

“I got ran into from behind,” Logano said. “We were running horrible anyway but just went into Turn 1 and I think it was (Nemechek) behind me that sent me spinning.” 

Nemechek said over his team radio that he didn’t mean to cause the accident. He said Logano’s slowing came quicker than expected and caught him out. 

Told of the comments, Logano was having none of it. 

“Well, you have to lift to make the corners,” Logano said. “You can’t hold it wide open around Phoenix. Maybe he should take a look and realize he can’t do that. 

“He drove straight into the back of me. He needs to be man enough to own up to that.”

To Nemechek’s credit, he did just that. 

“I want to apologize to Joey (Logano) and those guys,” Nemechek said after the race. “I’m going to reach out to Joey. I’ll probably reach out to Paul Wolfe and Roger Penske. I guess just misjudged it. I hit the brake pedal pretty hard, and it didn’t really slow down and I got in the back of him. It’s my fault. I made a mistake and I’ve got to learn from it, and own it.”

Neither driver had a day to remember in Phoenix. Nemechek finished a distant 25th at race’s end, dropping him from 16th to 21st in the standings. Logano’s second DNF in four races left him 30th, 35 points below the cutline heading into the schedule’s spring stretch. 

Good: A small step in the right direction

The Next Gen car’s short track troubles are far from over, but Sunday was a small step in the right direction. 

Phoenix was the first track to see the Cup Series utilized a simplified rear diffuser and 3” rear spoiler – changes meant to minimize the effects of dirty air on trailing cars. 

Early in the weekend, drivers were pessimistic about their outlook for the race. 

But in the end, the statistics showed gains. NASCAR claimed the race saw 2,813 green flag passes, the highest total of the Next Gen era at the facility. It surpassed the previous high mark of 2,584 from the 2023 spring race. 

Bell didn’t feel the car was “any better in traffic,” but did say the car drove “significantly different.” 

His crew chief, Adam Stevens, acknowledged that Bell could at least make more moves around traffic. 

“It’s just one data point but that’s the one we have,” Stevens said. “We had a good car but when we were tight at the start, we weren’t going forward. We barely held our ground. When we got the balance close, he was able to make moves and get up there.

“I think, if anything, you would say that there was an improvement there. You have to ask some of the other competitors really to get a better feel for that. But I thought when we had a run, we could get close, closer than we could, and we could make a move.” 

As for a competitor’s opinion, at least one driver was supportive of the changes. 

There’s still more work to be done, but early signs suggest NASCAR is inching in the right direction. 

Notes

  • So… Joe Gibbs Racing had a good day, huh? 

  • Driving through the field at a track like Phoenix can be hard work. Just ask fifth-place finisher Ryan Blaney. The defending champ said he was “the most worn-out I have been in a long time” after his hard-fought top-five. 
  • He narrowly beat out Ross Chastain in a drag race to the line for fifth. Chastain was the only Chevrolet in top-12, ending the Bowtie brand’s winning streak after it had claimed the opening three races of the season. 
  • Ty Gibbs is inching closer to that elusive first win. The sophomore is already halfway to matching his rookie totals in top-fives (2 vs. 4 in 2023) and laps led (57 vs. 112 in 2023). His 8.8 average finish to date is nearly 10 positions better than the 18.4 he managed last year. It’s still early, but Gibbs is looking like a playoff threat. 
  • Michael McDowell and Front Row Motorsports looked the part again Sunday, notching a solid eighth-place finish. His teammate Todd Gilliland also led 14 laps before finishing 17th. 
  • An early-season penalty means he doesn’t have the spot in the standings to show for it, but Noah Gragson now has three finishes inside of the top-12 in the opening four races of the year. The Nevadan is back up to 26th in points and could be a sleeper for the playoffs if he can keep it up. 
  • Austin Cindric’s day in Phoenix lasted just six laps before he was out in a crash. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner has dropped from second to 15th in points over the past two weeks. 

Race Results

  1. Christopher Bell
  2. Chris Buescher
  3. Ty Gibbs
  4. Brad Keselowski
  5. Ryan Blaney
  6. Ross Chastain
  7. Martin Truex Jr.
  8. Michael McDowell
  9. Chase Briscoe
  10. Tyler Reddick
  11. Denny Hamlin
  12. Noah Gragson
  13. Daniel Suarez
  14. Kyle Larson
  15. Carson Hocevar
  16. Bubba Wallace
  17. Todd Gilliland
  18. William Byron
  19. Chase Elliott
  20. Alex Bowman
  21. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  22. Kyle Busch
  23. Ryan Preece
  24. Justin Haley
  25. John Hunter Nemechek
  26. Josh Berry
  27. Harrison Burton
  28. Daniel Hemric
  29. Zane Smith
  30. Kaz Grala
  31. Erik Jones
  32. Austin Dillon
  33. Corey LaJoie
  34. Joey Logano
  35. Derek Kraus
  36. Austin Cindric

Stage 1

  1. Tyler Reddick
  2. Ty Gibbs
  3. Denny Hamlin
  4. Erik Jones
  5. Chase Elliott
  6. William Byron
  7. Ryan Blaney
  8. Michael McDowell
  9. Chase Briscoe
  10. Martin Truex Jr.

Stage 2

  1. Christopher Bell
  2. Tyler Reddick
  3. Denny Hamlin
  4. William Byron
  5. Martin Truex Jr.
  6. Ryan Blaney
  7. Chase Elliott
  8. Noah Gragson
  9. Brad Keselowski
  10. Chris Buescher

—

Playoff Picture

In With A Win

William Byron

Daniel Suarez

Kyle Larson

Christopher Bell

 

Above the Cutline

Ryan Blaney (+67)

Martin Truex Jr. (+57)

Tyler Reddick (+46)

Ty Gibbs (+46)

Ross Chastain (+45)

Denny Hamlin (+45)

Chase Elliott (+39)

Kyle Busch (+26)

Alex Bowman (+15)

Bubba Wallace (+13)

Austin Cindric (+3)

Chris Buescher (+2)

 

Within Reach

Michael McDowell (-2)

Erik Jones (-2)

Chase Briscoe (-3)

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-6)

John Hunter Nemechek (-6) 

Brad Keselowski (-11)

Corey LaJoie (-16)

Carson Hocevar (-16)

Daniel Hemric (-19)

Noah Gragson (-33)

Harrison Burton (-33)

Todd Gilliland (-34)

Justin Haley (-34)

Joey Logano (-35)

Josh Berry (-38)

Austin Dillon (-40)

Zane Smith (-46)

Kaz Grala (-49)

Ryan Preece (-58) 

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Next Up: Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (March 17, 3:30 p.m. ET)

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