TC Daily Pit Stop: Christopher Bell Dashes to Win in Tire-Centric Bristol Night Race; Round of 12 Playoff Field Set

TC Daily Pit Stop: Sunday, September 14, 2025

Sep 14, 2025

Photo Credit: Dirk Bizub | TobyChristie.com

Christopher Bell didn’t have the dominant car in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, but the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota minimized mistakes throughout the race, managed the ultra-high Goodyear tire wear well, and was in a position near the front of the field on the final restart with four laps to go.

Lining up from third position in the inside line, Bell, on fresh tires, was able to breeze to the lead as race leader Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith, both on older tires, slid up the track in Turn 1.

“I’ll tell you what, I was nervous on the choose. I didn’t know if I wanted to be on the bottom or the top, and whenever Brad [Keselowski] picked the top didn’t really give me an option. I had to pick the bottom,” said Christopher Bell. “All night long, I don’t know, old tires just really, really pushed up in the middle of the corners, so I was hoping that those guys on old tires would push up, and they did. They did, and I was able to get underneath them.”

From there, Bell had to hold off a hungry Brad Keselowski, who attempted a bump-and-run in Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. Bell was able to keep his car straight through the bump from Keselowski, and he went on to win the race.

Alex Bowman found himself in a position late in the race to potentially score a win, which would have allowed him to move into the Round of 12 of the Playoffs, but he didn’t have an additional set of tires on pit road on the final caution of the race, and faded to finish 8th.

Ty Gibbs led a race-high 201 laps and looked like he could go on to win his first NASCAR Cup Series victory, but issues getting to pit road late in the race derailed his chance to win. Gibbs still rallied back to finish 10th.

NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12 Field Set

Christopher Bell, with his win on Saturday night, advanced to the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 of the Playoffs, along with 11 other drivers. However, it was the end of the road for Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane van Gisbergen, and Josh Berry. Here is the Playoff Grid entering the Round of 12.