CUP: Brake failure ends Christopher Bell’s championship run

PHOTO: Brock Beard

by Brock Beard

LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Christopher Bell picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at the Phoenix Raceway when his #20 Rheem / DeWalt Toyota crashed after 108 of 312 laps.

The finish, which came in Bell’s 144th series start, was his second of the season and first since Kansas, 24 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 35th for the #20, the 187th for Toyota, and the 661st from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 60th for the #20, the 402nd for Toyota, and the 1,361st from a crash.

Bell successfully defended his spot in the Championship Four, a journey that began with his victory in the Bristol Dirt Race and continued through a season where he’s earned six poles. The first three occurred in the Round of 16, where he bounced back from a 23rd in Darlington to take 8th in Kansas and 3rd in Bristol. He remained in the Top 15 though the Round of 12. But, much like last year, it was in the Round of 8 that he made his boldest push to the championship race. He nearly caught race winner Kyle Larson in the final laps at Las Vegas, then prevailed in a tight battle at Homestead, punching his ticket with the checkered flag. With a 7th last week in Martinsville, Bell looked ahead to claiming his first Cup championship.

Bell began the Phoenix weekend with the 4th-fastest lap in practice – second-best among the Playoff contenders behind Ryan Blaney. He then qualified 13th with a lap of 132.338mph (27.203 seconds), which ranked him third among his group, this time ahead of Blaney.

Securing the 36th and final spot in the field was B.J. McLeod, whose Live Fast Motorsports team co-owned by Matt Tifft would enter its final race as a Chartered team before their medallion transfers to Spire Motorsports in 2024. McLeod carried returning sponsorship from Pala Casino on his pastel Chevrolet, which struggled to a 29.248-second lap, more than 1.2 seconds off the next-slowest car of Justin Haley. The lone pre-race penalty was handed to Brad Keselowski, who with wife Paige welcomed their third child and first son. Hours before clinching the XFINITY championship, Cole Custer qualified Keselowski’s car 31st, and Keselowski would return for Sunday.

When the green flag dropped, McLeod and Keselowski remained locked side-by-side through the first lap. By Lap 2, Keselowski had pulled ahead, in the low lane of a three-wide battle between Justin Haley’s #31 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet to his outside and J.J. Yeley’s #15 Total Point / Patriot Mobile Ford outside of Haley. By Lap 3, Keselowski had passed Haley, but not Yeley, and McLeod remained within striking distance of each. By Lap 6, McLeod had caught and passed Ryan Newman, putting his #51 Serial 1 E-Bikes Ford in last place.

but McLeod remained less than a carlength behind. The gap remained the same on Lap 3, when Keselowski had dropped Justin Haley to 35th in the #31 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet. By Lap 12, both McLeod and Newman started to trail the rest of the field, each about two carlengths apart from one another. Newman lost ground to McLeod, then started to get it back on Lap 22 as the leaders were about to catch them both. On Lap 25, then-leader William Byron was the same gap behind last-place Newman as Newman was to McLeod. The next time by, Newman was the frst to be lapped, followed shortly after by McLeod.

McLeod first held the inside line as the leaders caught him, but on Lap 31 pulled up high as the field pulled by down low. This allowed Newman to close the gap on McLeod until Lap 37, when the #51 was held up behind a group of two-wide lead-lap traffic down the backstretch. Newman was again closing the gap on Lap 39, but McLeod pulled away again on Lap 45. Just before the end of Stage 1, Newman lost a second lap, and remain in last place when the stage caution fell on Lap 61. Under the yellow, McLeod retook last place following a pit road speeding penalty. Also caught were both Yeley – who had just earned the Lucky Dog – and Kyle Busch in the #8 3CHI Chevrolet. 

Back under green in Stage 2, McLeod asked the team, “is there any way for it to quit making me hotter?” which appeared to refer to heat in the cockpit on what was a warm afternoon. Regardless of the issue, McLeod continued, and by Lap 105 both he and Newman had fallen a third lap down.

Three laps later, the last-place battle took a sudden and dramatic turn. Christopher Bell had yet to lead a lap, but climbed into the Top 10 on Lap 33 and on Lap 96 passed Kyle Larson for 5th. But heading into Turn 3 on Lap 107, Bell’s right-front brake rotor failed, putting his car into the outside wall. Bell slowed under caution and came to pit road, where the crew set to work on the right side. Bell radioed he didn’t have any brakes, and the crew discussed what to do next. “We’re done,” came the message on Lap 110. The team took particular care to not trail fluid through the adjoining pit stall belonging to Harrison Burton. Bell then pulled into Garage Stall 2 before he was brought to the infield care center by cart, where he was checked and released. On Lap 119, NASCAR declared Bell out due to the accident.

Despite a couple minor incidents, Bell was the race’s only DNF. Taking 35th was Austin Cindric, whose #2 Discount Tire Ford slapped the wall around Lap 130 but didn’t bring out the caution. This resulted in 11 lost laps for an extended pit stop to repair the right-side suspension. On Lap 144, Cindric returned to the track with less than two minutes on the “Crash Clock,” then reached minimum speed on Lap 147. With no additional attrition, he remained in 35th behind Newman and McLeod. Rounding out the group was A.J. Allmendinger, whose #16 Action Industries Chevrolet spun in practice after contact with Kyle Busch.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #20 in a Cup race at Phoenix.

*Bell is the first driver from the Championship Four in any Cup, XFINITY, or Truck Series race to finish last in the season finale.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

36) #20-Christopher Bell / 108 laps / crash

35) #2-Austin Cindric / 301 laps / running

34) #51-Ryan Newman / 305 laps / running

33) #78-B.J. McLeod / 306 laps / running

32) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 308 laps / running

2023 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL

1st) Joe Gibbs Racing, Live Fast Motorsports (5)

2nd) Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports (4)

3rd) Legacy Motor Club, Penske Racing (3)

4th) Stewart-Haas Racing (2)

5th) Front Row Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, Trackhouse Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (1)

2023 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL

1st) Chevrolet (19)

2nd) Ford (11)

3rd) Toyota (5)

2023 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL