Bell battles Busch, Byron for second straight Cup Series win at COTA

Christopher Bell rode a week of momentum into Circuit of The Americas and turned it into a second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory.

Bell, who won a week ago on the Atlanta Motor Speedway superspeedway-hybrid, made the winning pass Sunday on Kyle Busch with five laps to go. The two put on a clinic of road course driving, with Busch on defense for the final 10 laps as Bell looked to his left and right and, at times, made contact as they battled for the lead.

Once in the lead, Bell held off a charging William Byron. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led eight laps on his way to the victory, the 11th of his Cup Series career. It is his first at COTA.

Bell finished second at the venue last year. Ironically, the roles were reversed as he tried to chase down Byron for the victory.

“That was almost a déjà vu of last year – I had the track position that time, ,” Bell told Fox Sports. “Man, these road course races are just so much fun. Whenever Kyle was leading, I was trying to be so cautious. Obviously, we know what happened last year (when he spun Busch in Turn 1). I didn’t want that to happen. I wanted to pass him clean, and 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. I started peeking a nose, and he bobbled, and it allowed me to get out front. When I did, I was like, ‘OK, just don’t beat yourself.’

“Those were about the five or six sloppiest laps I’ve ever run. I’m just so, so happy for these guys right here (patting DeWalt) logo. They’ve been on me hard about winning with them. We didn’t count last week. Last week was a speedway. We didn’t have that one circled, but we definitely had this one circled, and I’m ready to keep adding to it.”

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