The only way Bell was going to advance to the next round of playoffs was with a win, but that possibility didn’t seem likely until a pair of late-race cautions turned Sunday’s race upside down.
During a caution for debris on Lap 105 of the scheduled 109-lap race, Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team made the decision to pit for new tires. On the ensuing restart, A.J. Allmendinger got pushed past Elliott for the lead and then Kevin Harvick did the same to get around Elliott.
Just before Harvick was going to take the white flag, another caution was displayed for damage to the backstretch chicane. That sent the race into a two-lap overtime with Harvick in the lead but Bell, on the much fresher tires, in second.
Bell powered around Harvick entering Turn 1 on the start of overtime and ended up hanging on for the victory by 1.790 seconds.
The win is the second of the year for Bell and third of his career.
“I came off pit road and I was the first car with (new) tires. I was just trying to wait and see how I stacked up,” Bell said. “Then I saw there were 11 cars that stayed out on old tires. I just said, ‘We’ll roll the dice here and see what happens.’
“You just got to be there at the end of these things. I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. It’s been no secret that road courses have not been our strength this year but we were just there at the right time.
“We obviously weren’t in position to win, we rolled the dice and gambled and it paid off for us.”
Bell, who was the top performing driver in the first round of the playoffs before falling into trouble in the first two races of the second round, said he’s looking forward to the semifinal round.
“I feel really good about it, that’s for sure. I knew that the whole time going into this second round of the playoffs this was the troublemaker, with Talladega and then the road course being in here, when we weren’t strong on the road courses. I was really nervous about this round,” he said.
“I felt good about Texas. When we got out of there with no points, I thought it was going to be a really tough road. It was a really tough road. But there was an end to it.”
Joining Bell in the semifinal round of the playoffs are Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ross Chastain and Chase Briscoe.
Reigning series champion Kyle Larson was among the four drivers eliminated from further…
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