May 27, 2024 | By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

Christopher Bell wins rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600

CONCORD, N.C. — A lightning delay that turned into a heavy rainstorm made a winner of Christopher Bell in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Not that Bell didn’t deserve the victory in the rain-shortened race, which NASCAR was forced to call after 249 of 400 laps were complete.

The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota started third, led a race-high 90 laps and won the second stage of the 14th NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.

The decisive juncture in the Memorial Day Weekend race came when Bell held off Darlington winner Brad Keselowski during a 10-lap run after a caution for Corey LaJoie’s spin in Turn 2 on Lap 229.

On the ensuing Lap 236 restart, Bell and Keselowski lined up side-by-side at the front of the field, with Bell prevailing and pulling out to a lead of roughly six car-lengths before NASCAR called the seventh caution for lightning in the area.

After the lightning came heavy rain, and though NASCAR attempted to dry the track when the rain subsided, heavy humidity thwarted efforts to do so in a timely manner. As a result, Bell collected his second victory of the season, his first on the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval and the eighth of his career.

The victory was a welcome momentum shift for Bell, who had finished outside the top 10 in five of his previous six races.

“Man, it feels so good – to win or lose – just to have a great race to go off of,” Bell said. “A race where we led laps. We were able to pass cars. We lost the lead at times and were able to drive back to the lead.

“We had great pit stops. It was a team effort, and it was amazing to have a good race. Hopefully, this is something we can build on and get back to being more consistent.”

Keselowski, who posted his third runner-up finish of the season, was convinced he had the fastest car.

“We just didn’t have time for it to play out,” said the driver of the No. 6 RFK Racing Ford, who pressured Bell throughout the final 10-lap run before weather intervened.

Stage 1 winner William Byron ran third behind Bell and Keselowski, with Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Pole winner Ty Gibbs finished sixth after leading 74 laps, including the first 42 of the race. Chase Elliott finished seventh, followed by Ross Chastain, Alex Bowman and Josh Berry.

After finishing 18th in his Indianapolis 500 debut, Kyle Larson arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway just before weather forced the stoppage. Larson intended to take over his No. 5 Chevrolet from Justin Allgaier, who had started the race at Charlotte because the Indy 500 was delayed by rain.

Allgaier was running 13th when the race was called, and Larson never had a chance to drive the car.

Defending race winner and reigning series champion Ryan Blaney slammed the outside wall in the second stage and exited the event after 143 laps.

“We’ll have to look if I hit something or… I don’t know,” Blaney said. “I just went into (Turn) 3 getting up to speed and blew a tire and hit the fence. It’s an unfortunate end to our night. That sucks.

“We’re not even halfway and just wanting to work on your stuff all night. I thought we were getting it a little better here and there, but won’t get a shot.”

The Cup Series’ next race is the Enjoy Illinois 300, scheduled next Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at World Wide Technology Raceway.



NASCAR Cup Series Race Number 14
Race Results for the Coca-Cola 600 - Sunday, May 26, 2024
Charlotte Motor Speedway - Concord, NC - 1.5 - Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 249 Laps - 373.5 Miles

Provided by NASCAR Statistics - Sunday, 5/26/2024 @ 11:40 PM Eastern

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 3 20 Christopher Bell Rheem Toyota 249 4 1 67 Running 6 90 7
2 30 6 Brad Keselowski BuildSubmarines.com Ford 249 8 5 53 Running 1 1
3 2 24 William Byron Liberty University Patriotic Chevrolet 249 1 2 61 Running 5 49 1
4 8 45 Tyler Reddick The Beast Unleashed Toyota 249  10 41 Running  
5 11 11 Denny Hamlin Mavis Tire Toyota 249  4 45 Running  
6 1 54 Ty Gibbs Monster Energy/Interstate Batteries Toyota 249 2  45 Running 4 74
7 5 9 Chase Elliott NAPA Patriotic Chevrolet 249  7 38 Running 1 2
8 7 1 Ross Chastain Jockey x Folds of Honor Chevrolet 249  9 34 Running 1 10
9 6 48 Alex Bowman Ally Patriotic Chevrolet 249 3 6 43 Running  
10 13 4 Josh Berry # Overstock.com Ford 249 9 8 33 Running 1 7
11 12 23 Bubba Wallace MoneyLion Toyota 249 6 3 39 Running  
12 4 19 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Toyota 249 5  31 Running 1 8
13 10 5 Justin Allgaier(i) HendrickCars.com H1100 Chevrolet 249   0 Running  
14 28 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 249   23 Running  
15 15 8 Kyle Busch zone Chevrolet 249   22 Running  
16 9 34 Michael McDowell Walmart/RTIC Ford 249 10  22 Running 1 6
17 35 38 Todd Gilliland Quincy Compressor Ford 249   20 Running  
18 24 31 Daniel Hemric Cirkul Chevrolet 249   19 Running  
19 34 43 Erik Jones Family Dollar Toyota 249   18 Running  
20 17 2 Austin Cindric Menards/Duracell Ford 249   17 Running  
21 20 77 Carson Hocevar # Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet 249   16 Running  
22 22 51 Justin Haley The Cleaning Authority Ford 249   15 Running  
23 39 17 Chris Buescher Fastenal Ford 249   14 Running  
24 14 99 Daniel Suarez Freeway Insurance Chevrolet 249   13 Running  
25 18 14 Chase Briscoe Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford 249   12 Running  
26 31 41 Ryan Preece HaasTooling.com Ford 249   11 Running  
27 27 3 Austin Dillon Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 249   10 Running  
28 36 16 Shane Van Gisbergen(i) WeatherTech Chevrolet 249   0 Running 1 2
29 29 84 * Jimmie Johnson AdventHealth Toyota 249   8 Running  
30 26 42 John Hunter Nemechek Dollar Tree Toyota 249   7 Running  
31 23 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Kroger/Irish Spring Chevrolet 249   6 Running  
32 32 21 Harrison Burton DEX Imaging Ford 249   5 Running  
33 25 71 Zane Smith # Focused Health Chevrolet 249   4 Running  
34 33 15 Kaz Grala # N29 Ford 249   3 Running  
35 21 7 Corey LaJoie Chili's Catch-a-Rita Chevrolet 249   2 Running  
36 38 50 * Ty Dillon(i) AmeriVet Securities Chevrolet 247   0 Running  
37 37 66 * BJ McLeod(i) Truan Equipment Ford 241   0 Running  
38 19 10 Noah Gragson Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford 170   1 Accident  
39 16 12 Ryan Blaney BodyArmor Flash I.V. Ford 143 7  5 Accident  
40 40 44 * JJ Yeley(i) Beard Vet Coffee Chevrolet 114   0 Steering  

Time of Race: 3 Hrs, 2 Mins, 7 Secs. Average Speed: 123.053 MPH Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Stage 1 Top 10: 24, 54, 48, 20, 19, 23, 12, 6, 4, 34
Stage 2 Top 10: 20, 24, 23, 11, 6, 48, 9, 4, 1, 45
Stage 3 Top 10: 20, 6, 24, 45, 11, 54, 9, 1, 48, 4

Race Comments: Christopher Bell won the Coca-Cola 600, his eighth NASCAR Cup Series victory. The following cars dropped to the rear of the field prior to the green for the reasons indicated: No. 22 (unapproved adjustments), No. 17 (backup car), No. 5 (driver changes), No. 45 (inspection violation).

Caution Flags: 7 for 46 laps; Laps: 88-93 (#66 spin turn 4 [84]); 102-110 (Stage 1 Conclusion [71]); 159-164 (#12 stopped on pit road [15]); 172-176 (#10 , 47 incident backstretch [15]); 197-206 (#21 spin backstretch / Stage 2 Conclusion [7]); 230-235 (#7 incident turn 2 [21]); 246-249 (Precipitation [7]).

Lead Changes: 21 among 10 drivers; T. Gibbs 1-42; M. McDowell 43-48; S. Van Gisbergen(i) 49-50; T. Gibbs 51-71; W. Byron 72-89; T. Gibbs 90-93; W. Byron 94-103; T. Gibbs 104-110; R. Chastain 111-120; C. Bell 121-146; J. Berry # 147-153; C. Bell 154-159; M. Truex Jr. 160-167; C. Elliott 168-169; W. Byron 170-188; C. Bell 189-201; W. Byron 202; C. Bell 203-206; W. Byron 207; C. Bell 208-230; B. Keselowski 231; C. Bell 232-249.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Next Race: June 2, 2024 - World Wide Technology Raceway

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