Christopher Bell scores his third consecutive victory at Phoenix Raceway

Christopher Bell holds off Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson to win at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday.

The NASCAR Cup Series visited Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon for the Shriners Children’s 500. Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron started the race on the pole with Team Penske driver Joey Logano starting in the second position.

In Stage 1, William Byron dominated leading 56 laps while Logano led five laps. There were two cautions during the stage. On lap 5, Katherine Legge spun around in the backstretch. The second caution happened on lap 11 when Cole Custer got loose at Turn 2 hitting Todd Gilliland, who then hit Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Noah Gragson. William Byron went on to win Stage 1.

In Stage 2, there were two more cautions. On lap 93, Michael McDowell cut a tire on the front stretch before hitting the wall. He was able to continue the race and finished in 27^th place. The big crash happened on lap 100 when Ty Gibbs moved up the racetrack in a four-wide battle as Justin Haley hit Chase Briscoe to start a nine-car crash at the exit of Turn 2.

The other drivers who were involved in the crash were Brad Keselowski, Carson Hocevar, Riley Herbst, Cole Custer, Austin Dillion, and Shane van Gisbergen. Ty Gibbs was the only driver who was able to continue the race. Christopher Bell led 43 laps to win Stage 2. William Byron led 16 laps, and Austin Cindric led six laps.

In the final stage, there were four more cautions including a crash between Daniel Suarez and Katherine Legge. Legge was out of the race and finished in 30^th place. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs hit the wall in between Turns 3 and 4 to bring out the caution for the tenth time.

The race restarted with five to go. Christopher Bell was in a battle with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson for the lead. On the last lap, Bell was able to move Denny Hamlin to the high line at Turn 4 to win his third consecutive race by .049 seconds.

The rest of the top ten finishers were Kyle Larson third, Josh Berry fourth, Chris Buescher fifth, William Byron sixth, Alex Bowman seventh, Kyle Busch eighth, Zane Smith ninth, and Chase Elliott tenth. There were 15 lead changes among six drivers and 10 cautions for 70 laps. Christopher Bell led the most laps in the race (105).

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway next Sunday at 3:30 pm on FS1. Purchase NASCAR Cup Series tickets today at StubHub.