Bell triumphs in Phoenix with dramatic win over teammate Hamlin: Christopher Bell prevailed in a dramatic side-by-side finish with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin — the second-closest finish in Phoenix Raceway history — to earn Bell his third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory this season, a record in the sport’s Next Gen Car era. Bell’s No. 20 JGR Toyota went high alongside Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota as the two cars dueled it out in the final two corners of a two-lap shootout on the one-mile speedway. The 30-year-old Oklahoman claimed the historic win by a mere .049 seconds, marking his second straight victory in this spring race at Phoenix.[Read More]
#20-Christopher Bell won the Shriners Children’s 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway. The win is his 3rd consecutive win of the year, 2nd at Phoenix and 12th career win.
#11-Denny Hamlin finished 2nd followed by #5-Kyle Larson, #21-Josh Berry, #17-Chris Buescher, pole sitter #24-William Byron, #48-Alex Bowman, #8-Kyle Busch, #38-Zane Smith, and #9-Chase Elliott.
Bell led 102 laps, the most of any driver. A late caution set up a two lap shootout to the finish. Bell’s teammate Hamlin got the lead on the restart and led at the white flag. Bell was able to take the lead back coming off turn four on the final lap and won by .049 second.
#78-Katherine Legge, making her Cup debut, spun on two occasions and finished 30th.
The fastest lap bonus was #71-Michael McDowell.
Stage 1 was won by #24-William Byron. Stage 2 was won by #20-Christopher Bell.
There were 17 lead changes among 6 drivers and 10 cautions for 73 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 92.141mph.
See race details at: Race Results, Driver Points Standings, Owner Points Standings, Cumulative Report, Penalty Report.
Race Fast Facts – Phoenix:
Christopher Bell won the Shriners Children’s 500, his 12th victory in 184 Cup Series races.
This is his third victory and third top-10 finish in 2025.
This is his second victory and seventh top-10 finish in 11 races at Phoenix Raceway.
Denny Hamlin (second) posted his 23rd top-10 finish in 40 races at Phoenix Raceway. It is his second top-10 finish in 2025.
Kyle Larson (third) posted his 14th top-10 finish in 22 races at Phoenix Raceway.
Shane Van Gisbergen (31st) was the highest finishing rookie.
William Byron leads the point standings by 13 points over Christopher Bell.
(NASCAR)
Cup Series Playoff Standings after Phoenix:
Race 4 of 36 in the season
1) #20-Christopher Bell, 3 wins, 152 points [16 playoff points]
2) #24-William Byron, 1 win, 165 points [regular season points leader], [6 playoff points]
3) #45-Tyle Reddick, 143, +60 ahead of 17th
4) #12-Ryan Blaney, 136, [1 playoff point] +53 ahead of 17th
5) #9-Chase Elliott, 124, +41 ahead of 17th
6) #48-Alex Bowman, 117, +34 ahead of 17th
7) #11-Denny Hamlin, 110, +27 ahead of 17th
8) #8-Kyle Busch, 110, +27 ahead of 17th
9) #22-Joey Logano, 110 [1 playoff point], +27 ahead of 17th
10) #17-Chris Buescher, 109, +26 ahead of 17th
11) #5-Kyle Larson, 108, +25 ahead of 17th
12) #23-Bubba Wallace, 102 [1 playoff point], +19 ahead of 17th
13) #42-John Hunter Nemechek, 99, +16 ahead of 17th
14) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., 96, +13 ahead of 17th
15) #71-Michael McDowell, 96, +13 ahead of 17th
16) #1-Ross Chastain, 88, +5 ahead of 17th
Outside the top 16:
17) #34-Todd Gilliland, 83, -5 behind 16th
18) #77-Carson Hocevar, 77, -11 behind 16th
19) #43-Erik Jones, 75, -13 behind 16th
20) #19-Chase Briscoe, 74, -14 ahead of 16th
Race updates:
Checkered flag for Christopher Bell. He takes the lead from Hamlin coming off the final turn. Hamlin finishes second, then Larson, Berry, and Buescher.
White flag for Hamlin.
Lap 311 – Green flag with two laps remaining. Bell, Hamlin, Larson, Berry, Bowman, Byron, Buescher, Busch, Smith, Elliott.
Lap 308 – Pit road is open. Leaders stay out.
Lap 305 – Caution is out for Ty Gibbs into the wall.
Lap 303 – Ten to go. Bell currently in control. He leads Hamlin, Larson, Berry, Bowman, Byron, Buescher, Busch, Smith, Elliott.
Lap 300 – Bell’s lead over Hamlin is .6 second. Thirteen laps to go.
Lap 296 – Green flag with 17 laps remaining.
Lap 293 – Pit road open. A few drivers come in, including Chastain, Logano, Preece, Cindric. Bell continues to leads Hamlin, Larson, Buescher, and Berry.
Lap 290 – Caution for possible fluid on the track after Blaney lost an engine. Reddick is the free pass.
Lap 288 – 25 laps remaining. Bell leads Hamlin by .5 second. Then Larson, Buescher, Berry, Busch, Bowman, Blaney, Byron, and Nemechek.
Lap 278 – Bell holds the lead on the restart.
Lap 277 – Green flag with 36 laps remaining.
Lap 271 – Pit road is open. Drivers that had option tires left put them on. Off pit road: Bell, Hamlin, Logano, Reddick, Larson, Chastain, Jones, Blaney, Preece, TDillon. Reddick and TDillon too fast on pit road.
Lap 267 – Caution for debris on track from Wallace’s car. He had a tire go down. Byron was on pit road at the time of caution. He will get the wavearound.
Lap 253 – 60 laps remaining. Preece leads Bell, Reddick, TDillon, Byron, Jones, Logano, Hamlin, Blaney, and Larson.
Lap 237 – Preece takes the lead from Bell. Preece is on the option tire. Reddick is third, then Byron and Jones.
Lap 224 – Green flag with 89 laps remaining.
Lap 220 – Leader pit and many put the primary tire back on. Off pit road: Bell, Reddick, Byron, Logano, Berry, Blaney, Larson, Hamlin. Most teams have one more set of option tires they will put on if there is a late caution. They do not need fuel to make it to the end.
Lap 215 – Caution for a spin by Legge. Suarez is collected.
Lap 213 – 100 laps remaining. Logano continues to lead Reddick, Bell, Byron, Berry, Suarez, Blaney, Larson, Chastain, and Busch.
Lap 196 – Restart was good.
Lap 194 – Green flag for the start of the final stage. 119 laps remaining. Most of the top 20 all have the option tire on. Restart under review.
Lap 189 – Pit road is open. Leaders come in. Logano is off first, then Bell, Byron, Reddick, Suarez, Blaney, Cindric, Larson, Berry, Busch.
Lap 186 – Caution for the end of the second stage. Bell wins it. He’s followed by Logano, Byron, Blaney, Reddick, Hamlin, Cindric, Suarez, Larson, Berry. The free pass is Jones.
Lap 179 – Bell takes the lead back from Logano.
Lap 178 – Bell has closed to within .2 second as Logano’s option tires are wearing out.
Lap 171 – Fifteen laps left in stage 2. Logano leads Bell by 1.4 second. Then Byron, Blaney and Reddick.
Lap 158 – McDowell comes back to pit road with a tire down. No debris on track and the race stays green.
Lap 150 – Logano leads Bell, Byron, Suarez, and Cindric. 35 laps remaining in stage 2.
Lap 130 – Logano takes the lead from Bell.
Lap 125 – Bell leads Byron, but Logano up to 3rd on the option tire. He’s 1.7 second off the lead.
Lap 119 – Out of the race: Van Gisbergen, Herbst, Custer, Hocevar, Briscoe, Haley.
Lap 113 – Back to green: Bell, Byron, Cindric, Suarez, Reddick, Hamlin, Chastain, Larson, Preece, Busch the top 10.
Lap 99 – Caution for an accident on the backstretch. Several cars involved: Keselowski, Herbst, Hocevar, Haley, Custer, Briscoe, Van Gisbergen, Gragson.
Lap 98 – Back to green. Bell leads Byron.
Lap 94 – Leaders pit again. Off pit road:Bell, Byron, Cindric, Suarez, Hamlin, Reddick, Chastain. More driver switch to the option tires.
Lap 91 – Caution for McDowell into the wall in turn 1.
Lap 89 – Cindric takes the lead from Byron.
Lap 85 – Byron continues to lead. Cindric, on the option tire, is up to second, less than a second back.
Lap 71 – Green flag for the start of the second stage. This stage ends after lap 185. Teams on the option tire include Haley, Custer, Herbst, Van Gisbergen, McDowell, Stenhouse, Suarez, Chastain, Gibbs, Cindric and Nemechek
Lap 66 – Leaders on pit road for service. Off pit road: Byron, Reddick, Bell, Preece, Blaney, Hamlin, Elliott. Chastain was too fast on pit road.
Lap 61 – Caution for the end of stage 1. Byron wins it. He’s followed by Reddick, Preece, Bell, Blaney, Berry, Hocevar, Hamlin, Elliott, and Larson. Free pass is Ty Dillon.
Lap 51 – Ten laps remaining in stage 1. Byron leads Reddick, Preece, Berry, Bell, Blaney, Hocevar, Hamlin, Elliott, and Jones.
Lap 35 – Bryon leads Reddick by 1.1 second. Preece is 6th.
Lap 25 – Ryan Preece restarted 33rd with the option tire and is already up to 11th.
Lap 21 – Logano serves his penalty. Byron leads Reddick, Berry, Hocevar and Hamlin.
Lap 17 – Logano penalized for a violation on the restart. He went below the yellow line before the start-finish on the restart. Pass through penalty.
Lap 15 – Back to green. Logano leads Byron. Preece pitted during the caution to put on option tires.
Lap 10 – Another caution. Gragson got into Custer. Custer got loose and slid into Gilliland, who was forced into Stenhouse. Custer and Stenhouse spun.
Lap 9 – Green flag back out. Byron, Logano, Hocevar, Berry, Jones, Reddick, Elliott, Hamlin, Haley, Bell the top 10.
Lap 5 – Caution is out for a spin by Katherine Legge on the backstretch. She did not hit anything.
Lap 3 – Bryon retakes the lead on the following lap.
Lap 2 – Logano leads the first lap.
3:43pm/et – Green flag at Phoenix. Byron and Logano on the front row. First stage is just 60 laps. All drivers started the race on the primary tire. Each team has two sets of softer option tires.
3:33pm/et – Engines fired.
3:24pm/et – Pre-race ceremonies are underway.
• Michael McDowell’s team had to change a steering rack on his car. He will start the race at the rear.
• Still no cars to the rear with less than 2 hours to the green flag.
• No cars to the rear for the race, as of the close of the garage on Saturday.
• Beautiful Phoenix weather in the forecast today: Sunny, with a high near 76. Northeast wind around 5 mph.
Race Details:
Broadcast: FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 312 laps / 312 miles
Stages: 60 / 185 / 312
Average time of race: 3:02:32
Pit road speed: 45 mph
Caution car speed: 50 mph
Fuel Window: 98 laps
Timing (all times local & subject to change)
Driver Introductions: 11:55 a.m.
Invocation: 12:24:20 p.m.
National Anthem: 12:25:00 p.m.
Command: 12:32:00 p.m.
Green Flag: 12:41:00 p.m.
Paint Schemes
Cars to the rear: #71-Michael McDowell (unapproved adjustments)
Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Shriners Children’s 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway have been made.
Pole winner #24-William Byron chose pit stall 1.
Outside pole sitter #22-Joey Logano took the 6th stall, with an opening in front of it.
See all pit choices on the Phoenix Pit Stall page.
#24-William Byron won the Busch pole for the Shriners Children’s 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway with a speed of 133.680mph for his 1stpole of the year, 2nd at Phoenix and 14th of his career.
#22-Joey Logano will start second followed by #77-Carson Hocevar, #21-Josh Berry, #43-Erik Jones, #9-Chase Elliott, #71-Michael McDowell, #7-Justin Haley, #45-Tyler Reddick, #11-Denny Hamlin.
See the complete qualifying results and the Shriners Children’s 500 Starting Lineup.
Phoenix Raceway – Qualifying Fast Facts:
William Byron won the Pole Award for the Shriners Children’s 500 with a lap of 26.93 seconds, 133.680 mph.
This is his 14th pole in 256 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and second top-10 start in 2025.
This is his second pole in 15 races at Phoenix Raceway.
Joey Logano (second) posted his third top-10 start of 2025 and his 22nd in 33 races at Phoenix Raceway.
Carson Hocevar (third) posted his second top-10 start at Phoenix Raceway. It is his second in four races this season.
Riley Herbst (18th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
(NASCAR)
NASCAR Cup Series pre-race inspection is complete at Phoenix Raceway. The #71 car failed inspection twice and as a result the Car Chief Griffin Ridder has been ejected for remainder of event. The #71 team will also lose pit selection for this event.
Qualifying Order
Practice for the Shriners Children’s 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway is over. The results:
#77-Carson Hocevar 132.533
#71-Michael McDowell 132.523
#45-Tyler Reddick 132.499
#2-Austin Cindric 132.489
#17-Chris Buescher 132.328
Slowest: #78-Katherine Legge, 127.019
Most laps run: #12-Ryan Blaney, 78 laps.
Best 10 consecutive lap avg (of 37 drivers): #71-Micahel McDowell, 130.730mph.
Notes: Practice was a single 45 minute session for all cars. There were no issues during the session.
See the fastest speeds, best 10 consecutive lap average, laps run on the Shriners Children’s 500 Practice speeds page.
Crew Rosters
The entry list for the Shriners Children’s 500 NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway is posted, 37 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
The only open team entered is #78-Katherine Legge.
See the full entry list on the Shriners Children’s 500 Entry List page.
NASCAR News & Notes:
- This weekend will be the 58th running of a NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway, and 2025 is the sixth season that Phoenix has hosted the Championship Round (2020-2025).
- There have been 125 lead changes so far in 2025, the most ever for the first three races of a Cup season.
- The average starting position of the race winners through the first three races is 18.7, the lowest in series history.
Statistical Advance: A look at some of the top statistical performers at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona going into the Shriners Children’s 500.
Goodyear Fast Facts — Phoenix: Similar to the 2025 All-Star race at North Wilkesboro in May and the points-paying Richmond-2 in August, Cup teams will have both “Prime” and “Option” tire set-ups available this weekend . . . on the Prime set-up, this same combination of left- and right-side tires was run at Iowa, New Hampshire, North Wilkesboro, Phoenix-2 and Richmond-2 last season . . . on the Option set-up, these are the same two Goodyear tire codes that Cup teams ran at both North Wilkesboro and Richmond-2 last season.
Race rules and information:
