Christopher Bell Wins the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

Christopher Bell dominated much of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, taking the winner’s trophy when the race was declared official after 249 of 400 laps due to bad weather. The driver of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota led 90 laps and secured his second victory of the season and the eighth of his career in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Bell was ahead of Brad Keselowski when a lightning delay halted the action and forced cars to pit near the midpoint of Stage 3. Rain fell for more than an hour, and high humidity prevented track-drying efforts from resuming the race, leaving Bell with a decisive victory in one of NASCAR’s premier events.

Keselowski was second when the checkered flag waved, with William Byron third, Tyler Reddick fourth, and Denny Hamlin fifth. Ty Gibbs, who started on pole, finished sixth. Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman, and Josh Berry completed the top ten.

Kyle Larson's attempt to compete in both the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the same day failed after a lengthy rain delay in Indianapolis, leading to Justin Allgaier replacing Larson in Charlotte. Larson completed the 500 miles in Indianapolis and finished 18th, then arrived in Charlotte ready to take over from Allgaier, but weather delays stopped the action shortly after his arrival. Allgaier took the green flag in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet, completed the 249 laps of the race, and finished 13th.

Byron overtook Bell at the end of Stage 1 to claim the Playoff point for winning the stage. Bell won Stage 2. The defending Coca-Cola 600 champion, Ryan Blaney, crashed early in Stage 2 and finished 39th.

Christopher Bell: "It feels really good. In the last two Coca-Cola 600s, I felt like we could win but didn’t. We’ve been on a bad streak, so having a good day at such a prestigious event is important for us. Getting stage and Playoff points is a good thing. The intensity of the race increased in Stage 3 because everyone knew we were racing against the rain. I’m very proud of the No. 20 team. I’ve worked hard to get us back to where we need to be, and today was a big step in that direction."