Frantic Atlanta finish ends under caution as Bell beats Hocevar and Larson

Despite being outnumbered by Chevrolets, and having led only a single lap in the entire NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta, it was Christopher Bell in his No. 20 Toyota that claimed victory in a dramatic, if not confusing finish.

“I’ll tell you what, that right there is what you dream of, to be able to restart on the first or second row in a green/white checkered in a speedway,” said Bell, who now has ten Cup Series wins. “You never know how those things are going to play out, but I’ll be the first to tell you, I love superspeedways!

“I don’t know. This style of racing has just always been a little bit of a struggle for me, and throughout the beginning of the day we obviously were just stuck way in the back. Adam and these boys back here, they did an amazing job getting this thing fixed up to where I could just hold my foot down. That’s what it’s all about. You have to be able to stay in the throttle, and that last half of the race we were at our best.”

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Photo by: Chris Graythen – Getty Images

With less than 10 laps to go, Austin Cindric was in control, until Kyle Larson pushed him up the track and into the wall, collecting William Byron as they spun across the track. The resulting caution made for a two-lap dash to the checkered flag — with Christopher Bell pushing Kyle Larson, and Carson Hocevar pushing Ross Chastain.

Unfortunately for Chastain, Hocevar wasn’t interested in pushing and sent it up the middle instead. Bell took the opportunity to pull beside Larson as the white flag flew, and Hocevar sent it up the middle again in what appeared to be the makings of another three-wide photo finish at Atlanta (like one year ago).

But it wasn’t meant to be as a crash down the back forced a race-ending yellow while the leaders were three-wide in the final set of corners. Bell was declared the winner, Hocevar a career-best second, and Larson third. 

Watch: Christopher Bell wins as caution flies on final lap at Atlanta

Ryan Blaney was fourth, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fifth, Denny Hamlin sixth, Kyle Busch seventh, Chastain eighth, Bubba Wallace ninth, and John-Hunter Nemechek tenth.

An ongoing caution debate

Throwing last-lap cautions has been a hot topic since the Duel qualifying races at Daytona. Due to pushback after spoiling a photo finish between Austin Cindric and Erik Jones, NASCAR surprisingly let the field race back in the Daytona 500 despite a massive accident involving the leaders. But following criticism of Saturday’s Xfinity finish where the race was kept as cars sped through an accident scene, NASCAR backtracked and said the same would not be the case for Sunday. So when Josh Berry spun across the track, they quickly hit the button as three cars were vying for the top spot into the final corner. At that moment, Bell was clearly ahead ahead of both Hocevar and Larson.

Photos from Sunday of Atlanta