What happened?
Christopher Bell scored another walk-off victory while in a must-win situation at Martinsville Speedway on Oct. 30 to lock himself into the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4. Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski finished second through fourth. However, the big story of the day belongs to fifth-place finisher Ross Chastain, who successfully pulled off a “video game” move to point himself into the playoff’s final round. Keselowski was later disqualified in post-race tech, and Denny Hamlin was promoted to fifth place as a result.
In the end, Hamlin joined Blaney, Chase Briscoe and William Byron in being eliminated from the playoffs in the year’s penultimate event.
Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Bell and Chastain will all race for a championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
How did it happen?
Track position was the name of the game on Sunday, and the No. 20 Toyota was playing it better than anyone else.
Through pit stop magic, Bell inherited the lead on lap 324 and with it a hope to make the final round of the playoffs. Passing had been difficult for much of the event, so it was going to take some key pit strategy to overtake Bell or anyone else in order to steal the lead.
That’s exactly what playoff contender Briscoe had in mind.
When the final caution waved on lap 468, the rest of the field pitted while Briscoe and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Cole Custer stayed out. To make matters worse for Bell, Keselowski, Byron and Kyle Larson all left pit road before he did, meaning the JGR Toyota would restart sixth.
BRISCOE STAYS OUT … AND HE CLEARS THE NO. 41! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/BkoJXsoIYl
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 30, 2022
Over the course of almost 30 laps, Briscoe tried desperately to lengthen his lead over the rest of the field by holding off challengers like Keselowski. For a moment, it looked as though Briscoe was going to shock the NASCAR world and win his way into the Championship 4 by staying off pit road.
Then came along Bell.
With four laps to go, the No. 20 finally caught the tail end of Briscoe and was able to pass the SHR Ford easily, stealing championship glory from the Hoosier.
BELL TO THE LEAD! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/GQGMYLaLDj
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 30, 2022
Bell cruised on for an easy third victory of 2022 and gain an entry into the final playoff round at Phoenix Raceway.
Who stood out?
Bell earned a heroic walk-off win that saw him save the year’s efforts…
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