Christopher Bell wins on last lap, earning NASCAR victory at Atlanta in wild Cup race

Christopher Bell made his way to the front of the pack during the final laps to win Sunday’s Cup Series race in an exciting overtime finish.

There were eight wrecks in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, one of which resulted in some free racing being added to the scheduled 260 laps before the checkered flag would wave.

But it wasn’t necessarily the checkered, or even the white flag, that was displayed from the stand by the finish line and effectively ended the race.

A crash farther back in the field prompted a caution, and as NASCAR stipulated earlier Sunday afternoon, cars would not race to the finish if there’s debris on the track. Ford drivers dominated most of the race and Bell found himself battling door-to-door with Kyle Larson after the Hendrick Motorsports driver had taken the white, and then Carson Hocevar drove up in the middle and made it three-wide for the lead.

Bell, the standout Joe Gibbs Racing driver, was the ruled the leader at the time of the yellow flag. Hocevar finished in second, Larson third, Ryan Blaney fourth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fifth.

“This is the most fun style of speedway racing that I’ve done in my career,” Bell said. “It’s different. It’s different than Daytona, Talladega. I think a lot of it just has to do with the way that the lanes open up, and it seems like, for the most part, there’s always somewhere to go.

“You can take your runs, take your momentum, and the top opens up, the bottom opens up, and for the most part if you do a good job driving and your car is handling well, you can move forward. ... This is the most fun speedway that we have.”

Unofficial results from the Ambetter Health 400

Lap-by-lap updates from the NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta

Overtime

Lap 266: Christopher Bell is the leader as a wreck ensues on the final lap of overtime and wins!

Lap 262: Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain will restart in the lead. Carson Hocevar and Christopher Bell are on the second row, ahead of Josh Berry and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and then Ryan Blaney and Denny Hamlin.

Final stage

Lap 257: Austin Cindric and William Byron wreck up front! Kyle Larson pulled away from Cindric at the front of the field, and they got into the wall. Larson is the leader.

Lap 256: Austin Cindric is back in the lead, with Austin Cindric and Kyle Larson surging behind!

Lap 255: Christopher Bell takes the lead! He becomes the first Toyota driver to lead this race.

Lap 252: Briefly three-wide for second! Christopher Bell comes up from the bottom lane and is battling Josh Berry. Ryan Blaney surges back through the field as well. Bell is making a run at Austin Cindric.

Lap 246: Austin Cindric is back in the lead at Atlanta, out in front of a single-file line ahead of Josh Berry, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Carson Hocevar.

Lap 237: Back to green — Josh Berry, Ross Chastain and Kyle Larson go three-wide for the lead!

Lap 234: Caution wasn’t thrown immediately, but the No. 12 car spun out by itself on the side of the track. It had been a great battle between Ross Chastain and Josh Berry trading leads.

Lap 233: Ryan Blaney spins by himself and brings out another caution!

Lap 226: Josh Berry makes contact with Ross Chastain at the front of the field! We stay green as the two go back and forth for the lead.

Lap 217: Kyle Busch moves into the lead!

Lap 212: Back to green! Josh Berry leads Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric and Joey Logano.

Lap 204: Another one! Chase Briscoe hit the wall, turning Chris Buescher into Alex Bowman in the middle of the pack. Eighth caution of the race is out.

Lap 201: Daniel Suárez, Cole Custer, Noah Gragson, Cody Ware and JJ Yeley are all out of the race following their wreck.

Lap 196: William Byron gets out into the lead! Kyle Busch runs in second battling Byron, followed by Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry and Austin Cindric.

Lap 192: Back to green we go! Michael McDowell received his sixth free pass of the day, which ties the record for most all-time by a driver in a single race.

Lap 183: BIG wreck! Daniel Suárez spins and gets caught up with Noah Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ty Gibbs, Cole Custer, JJ Yeley, Cody Ware and Zane Smith.

Lap 178: Ross Chastain continues leading early in the final stage. Shane Van Gisbergen and Kyle Busch are battling for P2. Competitive racing here with nearly 80 laps left at Atlanta.

Lap 165: Green for the final stage! Ross Chastain is out in front.

Lap 161: This is the first stage win on a drafting track for Kyle Larson, who came up during the final laps before the break to take the green-and-white checkered flag.

Your points-getters from Stage 2: Larson, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, Carson Hocevar, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Austin Cindric and Noah Gragson.

Stage 2

Lap 160: Kyle Larson wins Stage 2!

Lap 156: Joey Logano and Alex Bowman bring us back to green with the second stage nearing its finish!

Lap 149: Chase Elliott gets into the wall and slides back, collecting Brad Keselowski! Back under caution. Corey LaJoie is involved as well.

Lap 147: Joey Logano and Alex Bowman are side-by-side up front, ahead of Austin Cindric and Kyle Larson.

Lap 142: Alex Bowman passes Joey Logano for the lead, becoming the first Chevrolet driver to lead this race under green.

Lap 140: Back to green! Joey Logano is being pushed by his teammate Austin Cindric, while Alex Bowman jumps out from the inside with a big push from Kyle Larson.

Lap 134: Caution — for one of the cars that’s been in contention! Todd Gilliland slows and has debris come off his tire, prompting the race’s fourth yellow.

Lap 119: Joey Logano leads the field here at Atlanta.

Your Top 10: Logano, Austin Cindric, Alex Bowman, Todd Gilliland, Josh Berry, Bubba Wallace, Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, William Byron and Kyle Larson.

Lap 109: Green again! Todd Gilliland, Joey Logano, Alex Bowman, William Byron and Austin Cindric race up front.

Lap 105: Ty Dillon is back on the track.

Lap 102: Another caution! Erik Jones spins and hits the inside wall on the backstretch.

Lap 97: Joey Logano gets back into P1 as the Fords race up front. Bubba Wallace is up to the second row.

Lap 92: Todd Gilliland gets back into the lead!

Lap 87: Back to green! Joey Logano leads Alex Bowman and Todd Gilliland.

Lap 86: Denny Hamlin has been penalized and dropped to the rear for driving through too many pit boxes under this caution.

Lap 81: Caution! Ty Dillon gets into the wall from inside Turns 3 and 4 and spins. To its driver’s displeasure, the No. 10 car will be towed.

Lap 68: Back to green! Joey Logano leads Josh Berry and Austin Cindric.

Lap 67: Michael McDowell to the garage with a power steering issue but will stay in the race.

Lap 65: Lots of traffic coming onto pit road, and Austin Cindric makes contact with Alex Bowman. Brad Keselowski has been dropped to the rear for removing equipment.

Lap 62: Earning points following a clean first stage: Josh Berry, Austin Cindric, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Todd Gilliland, Ryan Blaney, Carson Hocevar and Joey Logano.

Stage 1

Lap 60: Josh Berry wins the opening stage!

Lap 50: Closing in on the Stage 1 finish at Atlanta. Josh Berry and Austin Cindric remain up front, with William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick and Carson Hocevar surging into the Top 10.

Your Top 10: Berry, Cindric, Byron, Wallace, Reddick, Todd Gilliland, Hocevar, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch.

Lap 38: Josh Berry has moved into the front of the pack in his new No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, ahead of Austin Cindric, Todd Gilliland and Joey Logano.

Lap 22: A good run from the inside lane by Todd Gililand has him battling Austin Cindric for the lead!

Your Top 10: Cindric, Gilliland, Josh Berry, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson.

Lap 16: Strong racing early is seeing some movement throughout the field, while the Fords are in command up front.

Lap 9: Austin Cindric got by his teammates and leads this race early.

Green flag, 3:20 p.m.: Here we go!

3:08 p.m.: Engines fired! Racin’ soon!

3:03 p.m.: Closer to firing the engines at Atlanta! Command is coming up shortly.

2:50 p.m.: Driver introductions are complete. Getting closer to the green flag; Invocation and national anthem in roughly 10 minutes.

2:35 p.m.: Interesting nugget from the driver’s meeting — Elton Sawyer says NASCAR takes responsibility for waiting until after the checkered flag to throw a caution in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race. He said that the yellow should have come out with the amount of debris on the track instead of allowing drivers to race to the finish.

2:10 p.m.: Some timing info for today’s race, from NASCAR: Driver introductions begin in 15 minutes. The invocation will be given at 3 p.m., the national anthem will be performed at 3:01 p.m., and Billy Gibbons, the front man of ZZ Top, will give command at 3:08 p.m. Green flag should drop at 3:19 p.m.

2 p.m.: Good afternoon from Atlanta!

Following another photo finish and impressive run from one of its series’ best, the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the venue that produced one of the most compelling finishes in motorsports history a year ago.

Ryan Blaney, the recent Cup champion who came within 0.003 seconds of Daniel Suárez, won the pole position to lead the field to green. Ford drivers own nine of the first 10 starting positions in Sunday’s race — including all four members of the Team Penske/Wood Brothers Racing alliance on the front two rows.

Who’s going to win the Ambetter Health 400? Odds and pick

Blaney is the favorite to win the race, at +550 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook early Sunday afternoon, followed by Joey Logano (+650), Kyle Busch (+800), Kyle Larson (+900) and Chase Elliott (+900).

Charlotte Observer NASCAR reporter Shane Connuck is going with Elliott to end up in Victory Lane. With so many Fords up at the front of the pack on the superspeedway-style track once again, we could very well have back-to-back Chevrolet wins to open the season. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native earned a starting spot in P19 at his home track, which is packed with fans of the driver of the No. 9 for this afternoon — so why can’t it be the sport’s most popular driver who delivers its next show?

Starting lineup for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta

This story was originally published February 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM.

Shane Connuck

The Charlotte Observer

Shane Connuck is a former journalist for The Charlotte Observer