Christopher Bell completed the Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs round of 16 on Saturday night at Bristol.
Bell zoomed around Carson Hocevar and Zane Smith on a restart with five laps left to claim the lead for the rest of the race.
Bell’s victory automatically qualified him for the round of 12. His teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin won the previous two round-of-16 races.
Twelve drivers will move on in the chase for the Cup Series championship after Saturday. Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Shane Van Gisbergen and Josh Berry were eliminated.
Updated NASCAR Cup Series Points
September 21: Mobil 1 301 (New Hampshire)
September 28: Hollywood Casino 400 (Kansas)
October 5: Bank of America Roval 400 (Charlotte Roval)
The round of 12 starts at New Hampshire with a handful of drivers close together in the playoff standings.
Chase Elliott in seventh place is only eight points ahead of Tyler Reddick in 12th.
The top eight drivers in the points standings advance to the round of 8 after the October 5 event at the Charlotte Roval.
More Joe Gibbs Racing domination could continue next week at New Hampshire. The Toyota team won three straight races at New Hampshire. Bell took home two of those three victories.
Briscoe, who drove for Stewart-Haas Racing last year, took second behind Bell in the 2024 New Hampshire race.
Hamlin, Bell and Briscoe hold the advantage next week, while Ross Chastain is the reigning winner at Kansas.
Chastain, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace are the last three winners at Kansas, so that could be a more open race than New Hampshire.
Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott have two wins each on the Charlotte Roval, so if they need wins to advance to the round of 8, they will be favored to do so in three weeks.
The playoff races, as a whole, should be more competitive than in the round of 16. None of the drivers who started the round of 16 below the cutoff line moved on to the round of 12.
The same thing might not happen going from the round of 12 to the round of 8 because of how tight the margins are.
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