Christopher Bell continued his remarkable winning streak in the NASCAR Cup Series, capturing his third consecutive victory in Sunday’s Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway with a dramatic last-lap duel against teammate Denny Hamlin.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver from Norman, Oklahoma, showcased his dominance throughout the 312-lap event, leading a race-high 105 laps en route to what he described as an “ugly” but satisfying victory.

“How about that one, race fans,” Bell exclaimed after climbing from his No. 20 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Camry XSE. “Oh my gosh, man. Whenever you’re sitting there dreaming it up, that’s about as ugly as it gets.”

The race culminated in a two-lap sprint following a caution caused by Bell’s JGR teammate Ty Gibbs. Bell and Hamlin raced side-by-side through the final restart, with Bell taking an aggressive approach into the final set of corners. He washed up the track, making slight contact with Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota before edging ahead by a mere 0.049 seconds at the finish line.

This victory marks Bell’s 12th career NASCAR Cup Series win, with 11 of those coming in the NextGen era that began in 2022. His current streak includes wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in the previous two weeks.

“You put the red tires on, you’re like, ‘All right, what I don’t want to happen is go 20, 30 laps, get a yellow.’ That happened. Then we went 10 more laps, had another yellow,” Bell explained. “It was all about who could get clear on the restart. Neither of us could. We were racing really, really hard there coming to the line.”

Hamlin settled for second place, giving Joe Gibbs Racing a 1-2 finish and marking his first top-five result since last fall at Martinsville. Kyle Larson charged through the field late to secure third place for Hendrick Motorsports.

Josh Berry delivered an impressive performance for Wood Brothers Racing, staying in the top 10 throughout the race before finishing fourth – his first top-five result of the 2025 season. Chris Buescher completed the top five for RFK Racing.

Polesitter William Byron, who led 83 laps, finished sixth after overcoming adversity when an untimely caution during green-flag pit stops trapped him at the tail end of the lead lap with 45 laps remaining.

The race featured 10 caution flags, including an early eight-car pileup triggered by contact between Justin Haley and Chase Briscoe that collected Brad Keselowski, Carson Hocevar, Cole Custer, and Riley Herbst.

Katherine Legge’s NASCAR Cup Series debut in the No. 78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports ended prematurely after a spin while being lapped by Josh Berry, an incident that also collected Daniel Suarez.

Despite his three victories in the first four races of 2025, Bell remains second in the regular-season standings, trailing William Byron by 13 points. Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Elliott round out the top five in points.

The NASCAR Cup Series continues next weekend with the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 16, with coverage beginning at 3:30 PM ET on FS1.

Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images