No. 1 once more: Christopher Bell ratings 2d consecutive victory with COTA triumph

Christopher Bell held off William Byron and Tyler Reddick within the ultimate laps to win Sunday at Circuit of the Americas, giving him back-to-back Cup victories.Remaining weekend, Bell led handiest the overall lap in successful at Atlanta. Sunday, Bell handed Kyle Busch with six laps to head and withstood the drive from the ones in the back of to attain his eleventh profession win and 3rd on a street direction.NASCAR Cup Sequence EchoPark Car Grand PrixCOTA Cup effects, motive force issues: Christopher Bell rallies overdue to win NASCAR raceChristopher Bell turns into first motive force since 2018 to win two of the primary 3 races of the Cup season.That is Bell’s fourth consecutive season with a couple of wins. He’s the primary motive force to win two of the primary 3 races of a season since Kevin Harvick did it in 2018. Bell will opt for 3 in a row subsequent weekend at Phoenix. He gained closing spring’s race there.That wasn’t a direct worry Sunday. He was once simply playing his victory.“Those street direction races are simply such a lot a laugh,” Bell informed Fox in Victory Lane.Byron completed 2d. Reddick positioned 3rd. Chase Elliott rallied to complete fourth after he was once spun at the first nook of the primary lap by way of Ross Chastain. Busch, who led a race-high 42 laps, fell to 5th. Shane van Gisbergen positioned 6th.Bell shadowed Busch for a number of laps overdue within the race, seeking to get by way of him with out knocking him out of the best way. That they had had touch coming into the essess on Lap 90 of the 95-lap race however Busch stayed forward. Bell endured to drive him and were given by way of him in Flip 20, a left-hand flip that results in the frontstretch.Busch, who was once on older tires than the ones round him, fell again. Tires had been key for Bell. He had brisker tires than the ones round him, making his closing prevent at Lap 71. Byron and Reddick pitted at Lap 68. Busch pitted at Lap 69.”I used to be simply sitting there looking ahead to certainly one of them to bobble or slide their tires,” Byron mentioned of Bell and Busch. “Bell were given by way of him and I felt like as soon as he were given by way of him and transparent, his automobile was once tremendous unfastened and it more or less gave me a few pictures at him. I simply couldn’t ever get beside him. We now have at all times raced truly smartly in combination, so I didn’t need to transfer him blatantly.”Sunday’s end result moved Byron, the Daytona 500 winner, into the issues lead 3 races into the common season.Eighteen-year-old Connor Zilisch, making his Cup debut, completed closing within the 37-car box after he couldn’t keep away from the spinning automobile of Monitoring Racing teammate Daniel Suarez. The touch eradicated each.NASCAR Cup Sequence EchoPark Car Grand PrixIncident ends Connor Zilisch’s eventful NASCAR Cup debut at COTAEighteen-year-old Connor Zilisch completed closing an afternoon after successful the Xfinity race at COTA.Degree 1 winner: Bubba WallaceStage 2 winner: Ryan PreeceNext: The sequence races at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, March 9 at Phoenix Raceway on FS1