Christopher Bell won Sunday’s (Mar. 9) Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway, holding off Denny Hamlin in the second-closest finish in the track’s history.
Bell dominated the latter portion of the race but was forced to hold off Hamlin and Kyle Larson in order to snag his third consecutive win after a mechanical issue for Ty Gibbs brought out the race’s final caution flag. It’s the first time a driver has won three consecutive Cup Series races since Larson in 2021. It’s also the second year in a row Bell has won the spring race at Phoenix.
“That’s about as ugly as it gets,” Bell told Fox Sports. “When you put the red tires on, what I don’t want to happen is to go 20-30 laps and get a yellow. Then that happened. Then we went 10 more laps and had another yellow.
“It was all about who could get clear on the restart, (and) neither of us could. We were racing really hard coming to the line.”
That was awesome. Breaking down today's final lap with an aerial view in Phoenix! #NASCARonFS1 pic.twitter.com/Z1Xl73Wljw
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 9, 2025
William Byron won stage 1, with Bell winning stage 2. Hamlin ran in the back half of the top 10 for most of the race but emerged as a contender in the last few runs after a fast pit stop gained him several spots.
“Pit crew did a phenomenal job,” Hamlin told FOX Sports. “We had a bad stop in the middle, and they made up for it at the end. [The end] was the first time we were able to get some clean air all day. Obviously, our car was really fast.
“I really wanted it to stay green there. I thought in the long runs was where we were going to be able to excel. We got a good restart. The No. 5 [Larson] gave me a good push. Obviously we just ran out of racetrack there.”
Hamlin, Larson, Josh Berry, Chris Buescher, Byron, Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Zane Smith and Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10.
Big trouble in Phoenix! https://t.co/S6ZediutAp pic.twitter.com/vgaQ5rovlV
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 9, 2025
Katherine Legge finished 30th in her NASCAR Cup Series debut after a crash on lap 216.
The biggest incident of the day occurred on Lap 99 and took out several notable drivers, including the Spire Motorsports duo of Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley. Shane van Gisbergen, Brad Keselowski, Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe were involved as well.
Shriners Children’s 500 Results
The fifth race of the NASCAR Cup Series season will take place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 16. The Pennzoil 400 will go green shortly after 3:30 p.m. ET, with coverage on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
A member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Samuel also covers NASCAR for Yardbarker, Field Level Media, and Heavy Sports. He will attend the University of Arkansas in the fall of 2025.