The only way Bell was going to advance to the next round of playoffs was with a win, but that possibility didn’t seem likely until a pair of late-race cautions turned Sunday’s race upside down.
During a caution for debris on Lap 105 of the scheduled 109-lap race, Bell’s No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team made the decision to pit for new tires. On the ensuing restart, A.J. Allmendinger got pushed past Elliott for the lead and then Kevin Harvick did the same to get around Elliott.
Just before Harvick was going to take the white flag, another caution was displayed for damage to the backstretch chicane. That sent the race into a two-lap overtime with Harvick in the lead but Bell, on the much fresher tires, in second.
Bell powered around Harvick entering Turn 1 on the start of overtime and ended up hanging on for the victory by 1.790 seconds.
The win is the second of the year for Bell and third of his career.
“I came off pit road and I was the first car with (new) tires. I was just trying to wait and see how I stacked up,” Bell said. “Then I saw there were 11 cars that stayed out on old tires. I just said, ‘We’ll roll the dice here and see what happens.’
“You just got to be there at the end of these things. I keep watching all these races where the fastest car doesn’t always win. It’s been no secret that road courses have not been our strength this year but we were just there at the right time.
“We obviously weren’t in position to win, we rolled the dice and gambled and it paid off for us.”
Bell, who was the top performing driver in the first round of the playoffs before falling into trouble in the first two races of the second round, said he’s looking forward to the semifinal round.
“I feel really good about it, that’s for sure. I knew that the whole time going into this second round of the playoffs this was the troublemaker, with Talladega and then the road course being in here, when we weren’t strong on the road courses. I was really nervous about this round,” he said.
“I felt good about Texas. When we got out of there with no points, I thought it was going to be a really tough road. It was a really tough road. But there was an end to it.”
Joining Bell in the semifinal round of the playoffs are Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, William Byron, Ross Chastain and Chase Briscoe.
Reigning series champion Kyle Larson was among the four drivers eliminated from further title contention, joining Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez and Alex Bowman, who missed his second consecutive race with concussion symptoms.
Kyle Busch ended up second in the race, Allmendinger was third and Justin Haley rounded out the top-five.
Stage 3
Following the break between Stages 2 and 3, several lead-lap cars pit but Allmendinger remained on the track and inherited the lead. Chastain was the first off pit road among those who pit.
On the restart on Lap 55, Allmendinger led the way followed by Tyler Reddick, Elliott, Haley and Cole Custer.
Reddick got around Allmendinger coming off Turn 2 after the restart to return to the lead.
On Lap 62, Suarez reported he was developing a problem with his power steering and had lost a couple of positions on the track.
The problem only appeared to get worse and by Lap 67, Suarez had dropped to 33rd in the running order.
Bell, Harrison Burton and Aric Almirola were among the first to pit for their final green-flag stop with 39 laps to go, taking on new tires and fuel to make it to the finish.
Elliott pit on Lap 72 while Logano and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. followed on Lap 73. Reddick pit on Lap 74, turning the lead over to Allmendinger.
Allmendinger made his stop on Lap 75. Once the cycle of stops was completed on Lap 77, Elliott emerged as the leader.
Chastain had contact with the wall with 26 laps to go. He dropped to 31st in the running order and pit on Lap 86 for repairs. Chastain eventually had to go to the garage for additional work.
With 20 laps to go, Elliott’s lead over Reddick had grown to 4.7 seconds as Allmendinger ran third, Harvick fourth and Haley fifth.
On Lap 95, Reddick missed the backstretch chicane and had to serve a stop-and-go penalty, which forced him to lose several seconds on the track.
Larson was forced to pit under green on Lap 99 with a broken toe link, which required extended repairs. He returned to the race on Lap 104.
On Lap 105, NASCAR displayed a caution for debris on the track – a sign that was knocked on the track and run over by Suarez at one point.
Several lead-lap cars elected to pit with Bell the first off pit road. Elliott remained on the track and in the lead when the race returned to green on Lap 107.
Allmendinger and Elliott tangled entered Turn 1 with Allmendinger briefly grabbing the lead before Harvick muscled Allmendinger out of the way and escaped with the lead. Shortly after that, Elliott got knocked off course in Turn 6.
With one lap to go, NASCAR threw a caution for damage to the curbing in the backstretch chicane to send the race into a two-lap overtime. The race was halted for nearly seven minutes for repairs.
On the start of overtime, Harvick led the way followed by Bell, Redddick, Allmendinger and Haley.
Bell powered around Harvick in Turn 1 to grab the lead.
Stage 2
Chastain cruised to the Stage 2 win by 1.7 seconds over Burton as most of the lead-lap cars elected to pit prior to the end of the stage.
Larson was third, Allmendinger fourth and Reddick rounded out the top-five.
Following the break between Stages 1 and 2, several lead-lap cars pit but Reddick remained on the track and inherited the lead. Logano was the first off pit road among those who pit.
On the restart on Lap 30, Reddick was followed by Allmendinger, Elliott, Haley and Michael McDowell.
Allmendinger went to the inside of Reddick in Turn 8 on Lap 31 and grabbed the lead for the first time in the race.
With 15 laps remaining in the stage, Allmendinger held about a 1-second lead over Reddick as Haley ran third.
On Lap 39, Corey LaJoie and Noah Gragson both missed the backstretch chicane and had to perform stop-and-go penalties.
With five laps to go, Allemendinger maintained a 3.3-second lead over Reddick but several of the lead-lap cars began making green-flag stops prior to the end of the stage.
On Lap 48, many of the lead-lap cars, including Allmendinger, elected to pit under green, which turned the lead over to Chastain on Lap 49.
Stage 1
Logano held off a determined Byron by 0.524 seconds to claim the Stage 1 win, his sixth stage victory of the 2022 season.
Suarez was third, Blaney fourth and Cindric rounded out the top-five.
Logano started on the pole and cleared quickly for the lead.
In the opening five laps, both Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace both missed the frontstretch chicane and had to serve stop-and-go penalties.
Wallace pit under green on Lap 6 for new tires.
With 15 laps remaining in the stage, Logano maintained about a half-second lead over Byron with Suarez in third.
On Lap 14, Busch missed the frontstretch chicane and immediately served a stop-and-go penalty.
On Lap 21, Chris Buescher and Chastain were among the first drivers to hit pit road under green prior to the conclusion of the stage.
Several more cars pit on Lap 22, including Gragson, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr.