Christopher Bell Clinches Playoff Spot in New Hampshire

Bell took the lead of the race with 41 laps remaining and never looked back. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has been one of the fastest cars in the organization this year, but had not been able to find victory lane until today. This is Bell's 2nd career Cup win, after taking the inaugural victory on the road course at Daytona in 2020.

"Man, that one was much needed right there," Bell said. "That was a hell of a race from my viewpoint. It was so much fun racing with the 45, the 22, and the 9. We were all running different lines. That was a blast. Just so happy to be here at Joe Gibbs Racing and so good to get that 20 car back in victory lane."

Bell won three consecutive Xfinity races at New Hampshire, but he knows this is different. "Winning Cup races is hard. Just seems like we’ve been close then we had fallen off a little bit last week. I was talking to my best friend and I told him, earlier in the year I felt like we were right on the verge of winning. Then the last couple of weeks I felt like we were pretty far away. But here we are today."

Chase Elliott continued his hot streak with another solid run, and came up with a runner-up finish today on the 1.058-mile oval. He was no match for Bell's Toyota, with a margin of victory of 5.439 seconds.

“I feel like just a poor run of execution on my end in the last run," Elliott said. "It took me a while to get past Joey and the 45 and I had to run harder than I wanted to. Just make a couple mistakes and couldn’t get much breathing room. When you’re in position like we’ve been in, you need to finish it off."

“Christopher did a good job. Congrats to those guys. I know they’ve stayed close to winning, so that’s cool. We were in a position where guys at this level really should close out a race if you’ve got the lead like that. Just poor effort on my part.” In the last four races, Chase hasn't finished worse than 2nd.

Bubba Wallace earned his best finish of the season, with a 3rd place result on Sunday. "Proud of the team, proud of myself, and proud of everybody at the shop," Wallace said. "It’s been hell for me the last month so good to come out with a top-five. This sport humbles you so there’s really no surprises. Have to keep the task at hand and be mindful of your surroundings and do your job." It is his second top-five this season but his first top-ten since Kansas back in May.

Martin Truex Jr nearly swept the weekend after qualifying on pole, winning the first two Stages, and leading 172 laps. He was unable to seal the deal in the final stage, and despite a 4th place finish, remains winless this season.

“It’s the Loudon curse for me, I guess,” Truex said. “I don’t know how many times this is going to happen. We lead all day, and then we get beat on strategy or tires or whatever it is. I don’t know, just Loudon. It’s just the way it’s been my whole career. It doesn’t matter how good we are if we don’t win.” The veteran was understandably upset with how things have been going.

“It is what it is,” Truex said about his playoff situation. “If another guy wins, then we’re out. That’s just the way it is. We race every week. Do the best we can, try to win races. Obviously, lately, we’ve been capable. We’ve had cars capable of winning this year. I think we have the most stage wins out of everybody. We haven’t won a race yet. For whatever reason, that third stage, we muck it up.”

Kevin Harvick is another former Cup champion that is still searching for his first win of the season. He has dominated this race in the past, and had a solid top-five finish today, but finds himself on the outside looking in in terms of the playoffs. With Bell's victory, 14 different drivers have now won a race this season.

Denny Hamlin had a quiet day for once, although there was a brief moment where he and Ross Chastain met on track again. The JGR driver and 23XI Racing co-owner brought home a 6th place finish in his No. 11 Camry. Brad Keselowski is in the same boat as Truex and Harvick, so while his 7th place finish is a nice boost for his RFK Racing team, he knows they will still need to get a win in order to make the playoffs this year.

Chastain marched towards the front from his 18th starting position to finish 8th. Most importantly, he stayed out of trouble for the most part. His TrackHouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez finished just behind him as Kurt Busch rounded out the top ten on Sunday, capping a great day for 23XI Racing.

After starting the race up front, William Byron fell off as the laps ticked away. The Hendrick Motorsports driver finished 11th today, just ahead of Kyle Busch. It was an eventful day for the two-time Cup champion, spinning out on his own twice, avoiding any contact in both instances.

Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric came home 13th, which wasn't bad considering that he lost a wheel during his final pit stop. Reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson started 8th today but finished just behind him in 14th. Chase Briscoe completed the top 15 finishers on Sunday, rebounding from a Lap 152 spin. Around that same time, defending race winner Aric Almirola reported some shifting issues, and saw his day come to an end after going to the garage.

One of the drivers still in the hunt despite not winning yet this season is Ryan Blaney. The Team Penske driver also spun by himself late in the race and was only able to finish 18th. His teammate Joey Logano led laps late in the race but finished further back in 24th. An interesting moment came during the caution for Blaney's spin.

Austin Dillon and Keselowski had a disagreement about something on the track, and traded paint several times under yellow. The two were very upset with the other, but there weren't any replays that showed exactly what transpired between them. Dillon was later spun on pit lane as Harvick was leaving, and finished 23rd in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

"We've gone at it a couple times the last two years," Dillon admitted. "One time, I hit really hard. I just don't like the way certain people race me. Probably not the right way to do it under a caution." Keselowski said it was a heat of the moment thing. "I'll talk to him privately. I don't need to be a jerk in the media." Austin doesn't think that will happen, as he said that he doesn't talk to Brad.

Alex Bowman's rotten luck continued today, when his race ended prematurely. Ty Dillon spun on Lap 6 and collected Bowman, Josh Bilicki, and BJ McLeod. It has been a rough couple of months for the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet. He has finished 30th or worse in three of the last four races.

“We qualified bad and then you’re back there with a bunch of people you don’t want to be around,” Bowman said. “Unfortunately, they were just racing hard, and it looked like the 42 and 31 got together. The No. 42 just overcorrected and stuffed us in the fence. Bummer. I hate it for everyone at Ally and Hendrick Motorsports. We’ll go on to the next one.”

Six races remain before the Playoffs get underway, which means time is running out for several teams and drivers. Their next opportunity comes at the Tricky Triangle in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Coverage for next Sunday's race at Pocono begins at 3 PM ET on USA Network.