July 14, 2025

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell had a rollercoaster of a performance during Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway before scoring a top-five finish. Bell started 10th in Sunday's race but quickly showcased that he had a solid car during the first stage. After a few laps, he made it up to as high as the fourth position until he went to pit road a few laps before the end of the first stage. Bell maintained a top-10 running position until he spun himself on Lap 24, causing him to finish the stage in 18th place and miss out on stage points. During the second stage, Bell avoided further accidents and slowly worked his way back up into the field. The No. 20 Toyota driver recovered to make it to the sixth position before he went to pit road a few laps before the end of Stage 2. Bell spent the last few laps of the stage recovering ground but fell short of earning stage points, as he ended the second stage in 12th. In the final stage, Bell went back up through the field into the top 10, and over the course of pit stops in the middle of the stage, he briefly inherited the lead before pitting himself multiple times over the course of the stage. Bell avoided catastrophe, and by the race's final few restarts, he had fresher tires than the leaders in front of him. He mounted a late-race charge into the top 10 after restarting outside of it, and by the end of the race, he finished in the fifth position. Bell's fifth-place finish was the first top-five result of his Cup career at Sonoma, and he climbed up to sixth in the regular-season standings.--Sean Engel - RotoBaller
Source: NASCAR.com