Christopher Bell wins at Phoenix, earns shot at Xfinity title

Starting from the rear of the field after inspection failures prevented him from qualifying, Bell took the lead for the first time on Lap 108 of 200 and held off Daniel Hemric to win Saturday’s Whelen 200 at Phoenix.

“Let’ go get ourselves a championship,” Bell said over his team radio as he took the checkered flag.

After a dismal semifinal round in the playoffs, a win was the only thing that would ensure Bell a chance to compete for the series championship next weekend at Homestead, Fla., and he delivered.

"Man, that's never sounded sweeter in my life," Bell said after being told he would advance to the Championship 4. "After Kansas and Texas, I just kind of accepted that we weren't going to get there.

The win is Bell’s seventh of the season, a rookie record he had already set earlier in the year. He has eight series win in his career.

Matt Tifft finished third, Austin Cindric as fourth and Ryan Preece completed the top-five.

Joining Bell in the Championship 4 at Homestead competing for the series title are Cole Custer (who won last weekend at Texas), Hemric and Tyler Reddick.

Stage 3

Bell moved into the lead for the first time in the race on Lap 108 of 200 as John Hunter Nemechek dropped back into second.

With 70 laps to go, Bell had moved out to a more than 2.7-second lead over Hemric and Justin Allgaier running in third.

On Lap 137, Tyler Hill wrecked on the backstretch to bring out a caution. All of the lead-lap cars elected to pit and Bell was the first off pit road, followed by Hemric and Tifft. The race returned to green on Lap 143.

Ty Majeski wrecked on Lap 145 after contact with Shane Lee to bring out another caution and Nemechek got into the right-front of Allgaier in the same incident. The race returned to green on Lap 150.

On Lap 155, a caution was displayed after Tommy Joe Martins’ No. 8 Chevrolet began pouring smoke and stopped on the track. The race returned to green with 38 laps remaining and Bell still out front.

After complaining of losing his brakes, a fire broke out in the right-front wheel-well of Allgaier’s No 7 Chevrolet on Lap 181. He began to drop back in the field, which would knock the regular season champion out of further title contention.

With 10 to go, Bell held a more than 1.6-second lead over Hemric.

Stage 2

Allgaier again took home the stage victory, this time over Nemechek, who was involved in a close battle with Cindric at the finish.

Cindric ended up third, Bell was fourth and Hemric completed the top-five.

Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, Cindric was the first off pit road and assumed the lead on the restart on Lap 54.

During pit stops, Tifft was penalized for speeding on pit road and Jones received an uncontrolled tire penalty.

Allgaier quickly made his way around Cindric on the restart to retake the lead as Nemechek moved into second.

With 20 laps remaining in the second stage, Allgaier held just over a 1-second lead on Nemechek, with Cindric third and Bell fourth.

Bell passed Cindric for third with 13 laps remaining.

With five races left in the second stage, Allgaier had built up more than a 3-second lead over Nemechek.

Stage 1

Allgaier held off Cindric to take the Stage 1 win victory.

Hemric finished third, Nemechek was fourth and Custer completed the top-five.

Before the first lap of the race was completed, Akinori Ogata wrecked which brought out a caution. On the restart, Nemechek, the pole-winner, remained in the lead.

On Lap 21, Allgaier made his way around Nemechek and into the lead for the first time.

With 20 to go in the first stage, Allgaier held a small advantage over Nemechek. They were followed by Cindric, Preece and Custer.

With 15 laps left in the opening stage, Allgaier had moved out to a more than 1.5-second lead over Nemechek. Bell, who started in the rear of the field because he failed to pass inspection before qualifying was completed, had made his way up to 11th.

On Lap 36, Bell got around Sadler and moved into the Top-10 for the first time in the race. Shortly afterward, Sadler developed a bad right-front tire rub.

Replays showed Sadler appeared to get damage from a run-in with Chad Finchum earlier in the stage.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Laps Led
1	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	200		94
2	21	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	200	1.887	1
3	2	Matt Tifft	Chevrolet	200	3.765
4	22	Austin Cindric	Ford	200	4.204	3
5	18	Ryan Preece	Toyota	200	8.907
6	9	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	200	10.815
7	19	Brandon Jones	Toyota	200	11.366
8	00	Cole Custer	Ford	200	13.692
9	42	John Hunter Nemechek	Chevrolet	200	16.297	33
10	23	Spencer Gallagher	Chevrolet	200	17.799
11	1	Elliott Sadler	Chevrolet	200	18.251
12	16	Ryan Reed	Ford	200	20.890
13	11	Ryan Truex	Chevrolet	200	21.385
14	3	Shane Lee	Chevrolet	200	22.503
15	4	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	200	24.246
16	5	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	200	24.998
17	51	Jeremy Clements	Chevrolet	200	28.207
18	60	Ty Majeski	Ford	199	1 lap
19	39	Ryan Sieg	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
20	36	Alex Labbé	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
21	38	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
22	35	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
23	01	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	199	1 lap
24	7	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	199	1 lap	69
25	90	Donald Theetge	Chevrolet	197	3 laps
26		Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	197	3 laps
27	52	David Starr	Chevrolet	197	3 laps
28	76	Spencer Boyd	Chevrolet	197	3 laps
29	15	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	196	4 laps
30	55	Bayley Currey	Toyota	193	7 laps
31	13	Tyler Hill	Toyota	185	15 laps
32	74	Mike Harmon	Chevrolet	181	19 laps
33	66	Akinori Ogata	Toyota	179	21 laps
34	45	Josh Bilicki	Toyota	158	42 laps
35	8	Tommy Joe Martins	Chevrolet	151	49 laps
36	78	Vinnie Miller	Chevrolet	144	56 laps
37	40	Chad Finchum	Toyota	143	57 laps
38	99	Stephen Leicht	Chevrolet	27	173 laps
39	89	Morgan Shepherd	Chevrolet	22	178 laps
40	93	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	18	182 laps