Live updates: Christopher Bell dominates late to win NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix

Christopher Bell collected his first NASCAR Cup Series win of 2024.

The No. 20 Camry was one of the fastest cars throughout Sunday’s Toyota-dominated race at Phoenix Raceway, the first Cup Series race not won by a Chevrolet this season.

Bell, who reached last year’s Championship 4, grabbed the lead late in Stage 2 and surged past Tyler Reddick for his first stage win of the season. He recaptured the lead after Martin Truex Jr. pitted with 43 laps left and won the race by more than a six-second margin.

Chris Buescher finished second, Ty Gibbs third, Brad Keselowski fourth and Ryan Blaney fifth.

Denny Hamlin, the pole-sitter, spun early in the final stage after running in the front throughout the race. He restarted 23rd but quickly re-emerged in the Top 15, finishing 11th.

Like Bell, Tyler Reddick didn’t lead until late in his Stage 1 win. Ty Gibbs had been controlling a Toyota-dominated opening stage, and Reddick passed him during the final laps.

Here’s a look at the race’s biggest moments as they unfolded:

Final stage

Lap 312: Christopher Bell wins at Phoenix!!

Lap 307: Chris Buescher passes Ty Gibbs for second, and Brad Keselowski is just ahead of Ross Chastain for fourth. Christopher Bell is dominating with five to go.

Lap 299: Ross Chastain slides a bit from fourth, but minimal contact and no caution! Twelve laps to go. Christopher Bell in control as Ty Gibbs battles Chris Buescher for second.

Lap 296: This keeps looking more and more like Christopher Bell’s race to lose. The No. 20 Toyota leads Ty Gibbs by more than five seconds.

Lap 281: Christopher Bell leads by 4.25 seconds with under 30 to go!

Your Top 10: Bell, Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Noah Gragson.

Lap 275: Christopher Bell leads by nearly four seconds. Ty GIbbs runs second, Chris Buescher third, Ross Chastain fourth and Brad Keselowski fifth.

Lap 269: Martin Truex Jr. pits under green with 41 laps to go, giving the lead back to Christopher Bell.

Lap 253: Truex hasn’t pitted since Lap 189, but he is comfortably in the lead by nearly five seconds with under 60 to go.

Ty Gibbs runs second, Christopher Bell third, Ross Chastain fourth and Chris Buescher fifth. Fords are fifth through 10th: Buescher, Ryan Preece, Brad Keselowski, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe and Todd Gilliland.

Lap 235: Martin Truex Jr. has led for the last 19 laps. Denny Hamlin spun to prompt the last caution and has since surged back to P16.

Your Top 10: Truex, Ryan Preece, Ty Gibbs, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe and Todd Gilliland.

Lap 221: Some contact in the back of the field as Erik Jones falls back and hits several cars, but the race remains green.

Lap 220: Green again! Martin Truex Jr. leads the field to green. Ryan Preece, Todd Gilliland, Ross Chastain are your current top five following the start.

Lap 216: Denny Hamlin spins! In second place, the No. 11 Toyota bumped Tyler Reddick and spun off Turn 2. Hamlin didn’t hit any cars.

As the race is under caution, many top drivers are pitting.

Lap 213: Back to green! Tyler Reddick leads the field, narrowly ahead of Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr.

Lap 207: “My bad, I didn’t mean to get into the 22, he slowed up way early,” John Hunter Nemechek said about bumping Joey Logano, whose day is done.

This is the two-time Cup champion’s third finish of 28th or worse in four races this season. Tyler Reddick had been leading, ahead of Denny Hamlin and Ryan Blaney.

Lap 204: Another caution! Joey Logano, who’s been running toward the back of the field all day and had fallen a lap down, spins into Josh Berry, Zane Smith and others after the back of Logano’s No. 22 Ford was bumped by John Hunter Nemechek.

Lap 203: We’re green again!

Lap 197: And we’re under caution for the fourth time today — and only the second not from a stage break. Kyle Busch spun in the back of the field (running 25th) and into the wall.

Lap 195: Denny Hamlin leads the field to green for the final stage!

Lap 189: Toyota drivers have swept the stages today. Chevrolets have won all three Cup races this year, and Kyle Larson swept the stages in his dominant performance last week.

Your Top 10 following Stage 2: Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Noah Gragson, Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher.

Stage 2

Lap 186: Christopher Bell wins Stage 2!

After Tyler Reddick grabbed the lead from Ty Gibbs late in Stage 1, Bell passes Reddick late in Stage 2 en route to his first stage win of the 2024 season.

Lap 182: Christopher Bell gets to the inside and takes the lead from Tyler Reddick! Four to go!

Lap 176: Tyler Reddick and Christopher Bell are fighting for the lead late in Stage 2! Several cars a lap down — including Joey Logano, who is among 15 drivers who are a lap down — are running near the leaders as well.

Lap 168: Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell lead the pack with fewer than 20 laps to go in Stage 2.

Lap 159: Christopher Bell surges into third! The No. 20 Toyota has looked particularly fast the last few laps. Todd Gilliland still runs in seventh, but has slipped behind Bell, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney after holding his spot in the top-three. He hasn’t pitted since Lap 64.

Lap 145: Roughly 40 to go in Stage 2, your Top 10: Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Todd Gilliland, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Noah Gragson.

Lap 133: Todd Gilliland made the most of another run without a green-flag pit stop and has now led for 87 laps this year. He’d led for just 11 laps in 2022 and 2023 combined. Tyler Reddick has moved back into the lead, followed by Denny Hamlin.

Lap 123: Todd Gilliland, Kyle Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Carson Hocevar hold the top four positions after most of the field pitted. Those drivers haven’t pitted in more than 50 laps.

Lap 120: Denny Hamlin, who has been leading most of Stage 2, loses some time on his pit road entrance.

Lap 117: Finally getting to some green-flag pit stops. William Byron, Chase Elliott and Tyler Reddick are among those pitting now.

Lap 92: Your Top 10, 30 laps into Stage 2: Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski and Noah Gragson.

Lap 72: Green for Stage 2! Toyota drivers Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick are battling for the lead.

Lap 69: Kyle Larson heads down pit road to tighten his left rear wheel.

Lap 65: Many cars pit during the stage break. Denny Hamlin is the first one off pit road, followed by Tyler Reddick and William Byron.

Your points-getters from Stage 1: Tyler Reddick, Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Chase Briscoe and Martin Truex Jr.

Stage 1

Lap 60: Tyler Reddick wins Stage 1! The No. 45 had been running toward the front throughout the race and took the lead from Ty Gibbs late.

Lap 58: Reddick and Gibbs battling for the lead! Great finish to Stage 1 coming!

Lap 50: Ty Gibbs still leads, but the Toyotas in the front have been battling him for it! Erik Jones went side-by-side with the 54, but Gibbs pulled away. Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin are pushing, currently running within a second of the leader late in Stage 1.

Lap 37: Josh Berry, who was dropped to the last position before the race, has worked his way up to P20, passing Kyle Busch.

Lap 32: Still green since the early wreck that took out Austin Cindric in the back of the field. Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick — all Toyotas — hold the top four positions. Toyota had led for just 15 total laps across four Cup races with the Next Gen car at Phoenix.

Lap 21: Your Top 10, roughly a third through Stage 1: Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Michael McDowell, Carson Hocevar, Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney.

Lap 13: Green again! Ty Gibbs keeps leading.

Austin Cindric is officially done for the day as he was quickly told by his team that the damage to his No. 2 Ford was terminal. Austin Dillon, who led the series in Did Not Finishes last year, has been caught up in early wrecks in three of this season’s four races but currently remains in the race.

Lap 7: First caution! Likely the end of the day for Austin Cindric, who was in 30th place, as he got hit by a spinning Derek Kraus. Austin Dillon involved as well.

Ty Gibbs had jumped out to the lead after starting on the front row, ahead of Erik Jones and Denny Hamlin.

Green flag, 3:49 p.m.: Green flag! Racing in Phoenix!

3:39 p.m.: “Phoenix, Arizona, are you ready?” “Drivers, start your engines!!” An electric command from Juan Diego and Gianna of Shriners Children’s Hospitals. Engines have been fired!

3:14 p.m.: The rundown for today’s pre-green flag festivities: The invocation will be at 3:30 p.m.; trumpeter Jesse McGuire will perform the national anthem at 3:31; International Patient Ambassadors for the Shriners Children’s Hospitals, Juan Diego and Gianna, will give command at 3:38; and the green flag will wave at 3:47.

2:58 p.m.: Josh Berry, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Ford, has been dropped to the tail end of the field for unapproved adjustments, NASCAR announced.

2:40 p.m.: Phoenix Raceway’s grandstands are officially sold out for today’s race, the track announced. Sixth straight sellout for Cup races at Phoenix.

2:30 p.m.: Happy Race Day! The Cup Series is back at the low-banked tri-oval that has hosted its championship race since 2020.

Whether this year’s race winners have secured their glory in the final laps like William Byron and Daniel Suarez, or early like Kyle Larson in his dominant stage-sweeping win last week, the 2024 iteration of the NASCAR Cup Series season has produced three thrilling races thus far.

Phoenix Raceway, the mile-long track, will see the debut of the 2024 short-track package. Cars are using a simplified rear diffuser and shorter rear spoiler, which is expected to help cut downforce in the front and allow for more competitive racing.

Most of the drivers have told reporters that they haven’t experienced much of a difference in practice and qualifying. Here’s what Chase Elliott had to say:

“Man, I’ll shoot you super straight. They change the tire all the time. Not only does it not make the racing look any different, but it’s really hard to tell from inside the car. Regardless of whatever compound they put on — and I’m not saying it doesn’t change things, because it does — but they are such minute things.

“It’s not gonna look any different. You’re never gonna hear about it. I don’t mean that negatively, but the cars are what they are. We’re racing on asphalt and there are four tires. It can only be so different. Typically, the same guys run good every week whether there’s a tire compound change or not.”

Denny Hamlin wins Toyota’s 150th pole in the Cup Series

Denny Hamlin won his third career pole at Phoenix Raceway after holding off the field with a qualifying lap of 27.138 seconds.

It marks the 150th pole position for Toyota, whose Camrys joined the Cup Series in 2007 and snagged just two of 36 poles as they struggled early on.

Hamlin’s JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs, will start second as Toyota drivers grabbed four of the first six positions. Chase Elliott (Chevy) qualified third, Erik Jones (Toyota) will start fourth, William Byron (Chevy) fifth and Tyler Reddick (Toyota) sixth.

Hamlin, the 43-year-old, starts on the pole for the 41st time in his Cup Series career, the most among active drivers. Thirty-six of his 41 of his starts have been in a Toyota.

Who’s the favorite on Sunday?

Christopher Bell is the favorite to win the race at +450 odds on ESPN Bet, +475 odds on BetMGM and is tied with Denny Hamlin at +550 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook. Sportsbooks go live on Monday in North Carolina.

Those two Toyota drivers are followed by Ryan Blaney, whose second-place finish in the last race at Phoenix won him the NASCAR Cup Series championship at +750, on DraftKings. Kyle Larson has +850 odds to win for the second straight week, as does William Byron to win his second race of 2024.

Shane Connuck is picking Ryan Blaney to get his first win of the season — and his first at Phoenix Raceway. After Chevrolets have won the first three races, it feels like this track could see a breakthrough for the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Ford has a pair of recent wins at Phoenix from Joey Logano and Chase Briscoe, and the cars have been fast throughout the season, with Blaney coming within three one-thousandths of a second of victory in the photo finish at Atlanta.

How to watch the NASCAR race at Phoenix

Race: Shriners Children’s 500

Place: Phoenix Raceway (Avondale, Arizona, 20 miles southwest of downtown Phoenix)

Date: March 10

Time: 3:30 p.m. ET (Green flag at 3:47 p.m. ET)

Purse: $7,806,252

TV: FOX, 2:30 p.m. ET

Streaming: FOX Sports

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Distance: 312 miles (312 laps)

Stages: Stage 1 ends on Lap 60; Stage 2 ends on Lap 185; and the Final Stage ends on Lap 312

Starting lineup for the Shriner’s Children’s 500