Christopher Bell Earns First Top-Five Finish of the 2026 Season at COTA
Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing finished third after having an up-and-down day at Circuit of the Americas during the DuraMAX Grand Prix. Bell started the race from eighth place, and early on in the first stage, he made it up to the top five. The No. 20 Toyota driver then dropped to sixth before heading to pit road with four laps before the end of the stage. This left Bell to finish in 28th at the end of the first stage after many other drivers stayed out of pit road. Through the entire second stage, Bell was stuck in traffic and could barely make moves through the pack. He ended the second stage in 15th and failed to score stage points through the entire race. At one point in the final stage, Bell traded paint a few times with Kyle Larson, but was able to continue. The No. 20 team decided to split the stage into two pit stops in order to win the race with a unique pit strategy, first enacting the plan with a lap 62 pit stop. Bell took his second pit stop during a lap 75 caution, which put him a couple of positions back, but he regained them over the course of the final run and made it up to third. The JGR driver did not have the speed to advance past third and finished there, earning his third consecutive top-5 finish at COTA.
Source: NASCAR.com
Source: NASCAR.com
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