Martinsville results: Christopher Bell with huge NASCAR win. Who made Championship 4?
Christopher Bell did it again.
The driver of the No. 20 car, who was staring down a huge points deficit heading into this weekend, was able to make up six spots in the last 30 laps after a late-race restart to earn a monumental win at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday afternoon to advance into the NASCAR Cup Series’ Championship 4.
This was his second walk-off win of the 2022 playoffs: Bell took a trip to Victory Lane at the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course — a place no one expected Bell to be — to advance into the Round of 8 earlier this month.
“I think I’ve been praying for offseasons for two out of the last four weeks, and now I’m ready to race again,” Bell told reporters in the media center on Sunday, a smile punctuating every sentence. “The Round of 12 was extremely disheartening because I felt like the Round of 8 was going to be really good for us. And that would’ve led to a possible championship run.
“But then when we got out of Texas with a DNF (did not finish) and Talladega sucked and just being so down — but the team behind me, everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, still performed to their highest level. And I feel like whenever I get in the car and I put my helmet on, I try and do as good of a job as I can of not letting anything bother me.”
He then added: “(My team) gave me a great race car today, the fastest race car today. And just like at the Charlotte road course when we needed to win, it worked out for us.”
Bell ran in the Top 10 for most of the first two stages and found himself in first after a caution on Lap 319. Denny Hamlin had been dominating up until then, but a mishap on pit road (of a few mishaps on pit road for Hamlin on Sunday) pushed Hamlin back a bit into the field for that particular restart.
Martinsville’s 0.526-mile course didn’t enable a ton of passing opportunities. And Bell took advantage of that, using that aforementioned lead to his advantage for most of Stage 3.
That said, during the race’s final caution, Bell had to make vital moves to rise up the field. And he was able to.
With about 34 laps to go, he took a trip down pit road to get new tires. That put the No. 20 car in sixth. Bell then rose to the moment and ultimately made a final pass by Chase Briscoe — who, too, needed a win to move up — with five laps to go.
Once Bell got that final lead, he didn’t give it back.
Here’s who else advanced out of Martinsville to stay in the Cup championship chase.
Meet your NASCAR Championship 4 drivers
Joey Logano, Team Penske, Ford: Logano had locked in his Championship 4 trip a few weeks ago when he took the checkered flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 22 car finished ninth on Sunday, spending a bulk of his day running just within the Top 10.
Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet: The No. 9 car didn’t need the perfect result on Sunday, but nearly ran the perfect race nonetheless. Elliott ran first or second virtually all day — lingering behind Hamlin when he had his reign of dominance in Stage 2 and hanging tough behind Bell under green in Stage 3. Some late-race chaos saw him finish in eighth place at Martinsville.
Ross Chastain, TrackHouse Racing, Chevrolet: In a move straight out of a racing video game, Chastain busted up the wall on the final half-lap and passed Denny Hamlin at the line to earn the fourth and final spot in the final four. He and Hamlin waged a points duel in the final laps, but Chastain’s gusty late-race pass was the final salvo. Chastain’s move will be talked about for a long time: Knowing he needed to move up a few spots on the last lap, he decided to come in contact with the wall, take his hands off the wheel and press the throttle down to the floor, he later said. He jumped at least five spots on the final lap to finish fifth — and to notch a spot in the Championship 4 — because of that move.
Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota.
Sunday’s Cup race featured eight total lead changes, six cautions for 53 laps and five different leaders.
After post-race inspection was complete, NASCAR found one issue, a NASCAR official said: The No. 6 car, driven by Brad Keselowski who finished fourth, didn’t meet minimum weight requirements. The car was disqualified because of the infraction.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article included an incomplete final results list from Sunday’s Cup race. Those results have since been deleted.
This story was originally published October 30, 2022 at 5:51 PM.
