In two of the last five races at Circuit of the Americas, Christopher Bell has denied Kyle Busch a chance at victory. After Sunday, make that three.
Unlike those other two occasions where Bell introduced Busch to the finer details of the COTA turf, this time he did it cleanly. No bumper, no drama—just a well-timed move coming to five laps to go. He even brought last year’s COTA winner, William Byron, along for the ride, setting up a four-car dogfight with Busch and polesitter Tyler Reddick in the closing laps.
Busch, who led the most laps on the day (42), must have felt like a man watching his wallet disappear into a crowded subway. Slowly but surely, his car faded from contention, leaving Bell, Byron, and Reddick to duke it out. In the end, Bell crossed the line .433 seconds ahead of Byron. Fresh off a last-lap heist at Atlanta the week before, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver became the first back-to-back winner in the first three races of the season since 2018.
“Whenever Kyle was leading, I was just trying to be so cautious,” Bell said. “Obviously we know what happened last year. I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to pass him clean. He was just doing such a good job at running his race, and he could get off the corners just good enough that I couldn’t get inside of him. But there I started peeking a nose, and he bobbled and allowed me to get out front. Whenever I did, I’m, like, Okay, just don’t beat yourself. Those were about the five or six sloppiest laps I’ve ever run.”
If there were any lingering doubts about NASCAR’s decision to shave a mile off the COTA layout, the final 10 laps should put them to rest. Shorter, as it turns out, is better.
The chaos started early—because, of course, it did. Turn 1 on the opening lap was a demolition derby waiting to happen, and Ross Chastain wasted no time in doing Ross Chastain things, muscling Chase Elliott out of the way. Further back, Denny Hamlin and rookie sensation Connor Zilisch tangled, sending Hamlin’s right front fender to the afterlife and forcing Zilisch to limp to pit road with a flat tire.
Just as things were settling down—if that’s even possible in a Cup Series road race—Ty Dillon had a meaningful conversation with the frontstretch wall after Austin Cindric sent him sideways. Fortunately for Dillon, the damage was minimal. Unfortunately, running 30th, it didn’t really matter.
The Connor Zilisch Show Had Everything Except a Happy Ending
Meanwhile, Shane van Gisbergen—NASCAR’s new road course overlord—took control of the race from Reddick on lap 9, leading 23 laps and looking every bit like a man who had everything figured out. But then, a crucial pit strategy call turned his race upside down. A late green-flag stop cost him dearly, while Bell’s decision to stay out one lap longer than Busch during the final pit cycle gave him just enough fresher tires to snatch the lead and, ultimately, his first COTA win.
“I just wish that maybe we had equal tires to the No. 20 (Christopher Bell),” Busch said. “I don’t know if that was all the difference. I know he was really fast and he had a good racecar. I feel like that might have been able to help hold me on a little bit better to him, but even that last yellow flag that we had, I felt like the gap that I had to the field, I was far enough out front that I could run the clean lines, the lines that I wanted, to preserve the tires and take care of them as much as I could to see if he could get there. But once we had that yellow, then it was just defensive mode. You’re in complete and utter just beat the heck out of the tires at that point, and I just didn’t have it over the No. 20.”
Behind Byron, Reddick settled for third, while Chase Elliott staged a spectacular comeback to finish fourth. As for Busch? He extended his winless streak to a gut-wrenching 60 races, coming home fifth.
Chase Elliott Takes a Beating and Still Comes Out Swinging at COTA
Zilisch, despite his early misfortune, clawed his way into the top 15 and looked poised for a top-10 finish in his Cup debut. Then, on lap 51, his teammate Daniel Suarez dipped a wheel into the grass exiting Turn 18 and spun directly into Zilisch’s path, turning his dream debut into a Trackhouse nightmare.
With leaders on opposing pit strategies, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Preece won Stages 1 and 2, respectively. That’s the good news. The bad news? Both sacrificed any shot at a race win in the process—Wallace finished 20th, Preece a miserable 33rd.
Shane van Gisbergen finished sixth, Chris Buescher seventh, while Noah Gragson, Alex Bowman, and Todd Gilliland rounded out the top 10.
Next up: Phoenix Raceway. The defending winner? Christopher Bell. Can he make it three in a row? We’ll just have to wait and see—but at this rate, you’d be foolish to bet against him.
“We didn’t count last week,” Bell said. “Last week was a speedway. We didn’t have that one circled. We definitely had this one circled. I’m ready to keep adding to it.”
RACE RESULTS
Photos: NASCAR at the Circuit of the Americas Sunday March 2 , 2025
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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