Christopher Bell has delivered a historic feat at Phoenix Raceway. He became the first driver in the Gen 7 era to win three Cup Series races in a row.
Bell led a race-high 105 laps Sunday afternoon at the 1-mile track, but he did not cruise to victory lane. He had to hold off a teammate during a frantic two-lap shootout after Ty Gibbs broke a brake rotor and brought out the caution.
Bell led the field to the green flag with Denny Hamlin on his outside. The two Joe Gibbs Racing drivers remained side-by-side until Kyle Larson raced up behind Hamlin and gave the No. 11 a shove.
MORE: Full Phoenix results
Hamlin took the white flag as the leader, but Bell battled back on the inside. The two drivers made slight contact in Turns 3 and 4, but they kept racing each other cleanly. They crossed the line in a near photo finish as Bell won his third straight race.
.@CBellRacing holds off a hard-charging @dennyhamlin to win at @phoenixraceway! pic.twitter.com/x70NvrgC5Z
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 9, 2025
The last driver to win three consecutive Cup Series races was Kyle Larson in 2021, the final season of the Gen 6 era. The best mark in the Gen 7 era is two wins in a row, something that Kevin Harvick (2022), Chris Buescher (2023), and William Byron (2023) all accomplished.
"Oh, my gosh, man," Bell told Fox Sports after winning the race. "Whenever you're sitting there dreaming it up, that's about as ugly as it gets. You put the red tires on, you're like, 'All right, what I don't want to happen is go 20, 30 laps, get a yellow.'
"That happened. Then we went 10 more laps, had another yellow. It was all about who could get clear on the restart. Neither of us could. We were racing really, really hard there coming to the line. JGR ran 1-2, how about that?"
Bell joined three drivers who won three of the first four races in a season.
Herb Thomas won three of the first four races in 1954. Bill Elliott won the second, third, and fourth races of the 1992 season. Harvick then won the second, third, and fourth races of the 2018 season.
Elliott is the only driver in NASCAR history to win four of the first five races in a season. However, Bell has an opportunity to tie this mark in the Gen 7 era, considering that he has finished second in two of the last three races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the Cup Series heads next week.