The NASCAR Cup Series‘ April schedule continued Sunday with the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, as Christopher Bell cashed in for his first win of the 2023 season after a wild series of events unfolded in Tennessee.
Tyler Reddick, Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top-five finishers.
Sunday’s race was made up of 250 laps around a 0.533-mile short track, and we had you covered with all the action from start to finish, exclusively on FOX and the FOX Sports App.
Here are the top moments from Bristol!
Green!
Pole-sitter Kyle Larson led the opening lap and built an early solo lead. Meanwhile, Dillon and Bell battled for second.
Quick caution
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Dillon was able to close in on Larson in no time, but trouble was brewing elsewhere.
The first caution of the night came out after Bubba Wallace and Joey Logano, who won this race two years ago, went for a spin in Turn 2. Logano ended up in the water barrels at the entrance to pit road after the contact from Wallace.
Todd Gilliland was also involved and nosed into the outside wall.
Joey Logano spins out after making contact with Bubba Wallace at Bristol
Joey Logano and Bubba Wallace both spin out at the Food City Dirt Race.
Down and dirty
The green flag was back out at Lap 21, as Larson continued to lead Dillon, but it didn’t last long!
The race’s second yellow came out when Matt Crafton, who was driving the No. 51 car in place of Cody Ware on Sunday, also went for a spin in Turn 2. Once again, Logano got a piece of the action and was ordered to drop to the rear of the field after he came to a momentary stop.
On the move
The green flag was out again at Lap 46, but once again, it was short-lived. The third caution of the night came out for a single-car spin by Brad Keselowski in Turn 4.
Things were back to green at Lap 65 with 10 to go in Stage 1.
Wild Stage 1
Larson went wire-to-wire to win Stage 1, which ended under caution after a pileup off Turn 4 involving Denny Hamlin, Josh Berry and others.
Denny Hamlin spins out at Bristol Motor Speedway
Denny Hamlin faces some damage on the final lap of Stage 1 at Bristol.
Anyone’s race!
Wallace, Reddick, Martin Truex Jr., and Ty Dillon stayed out under caution, which put them at the front for the start of Stage 2, sending Larson from first entering pit road back to fifth.
Larson drove Ryan Preece into the wall on the frontstretch while battling him for fifth. Elsewhere, another caution came out after Jonathan Davenport spun.
Full 360
The restart came at Lap 87, but it was quickly back to yellow after Michael McDowell‘s huge spin in front of traffic.
McDowell nice move
Michael McDowell pulls off a 360 spin Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Seeing yellow
Things were back to green at Lap 95 before another crash on the backstretch unfolded. This time, it was Daniel Suárez who got banged up. Logano also suffered heavy damage to his car.
Meanwhile, McDowell went for another big spin, while AJ Allmendinger had a tire go down after getting into the wall. Elsewhere, Preece, who was eighth at the time, went around on the backstretch and brought out the caution once again.
Heating up!
A three-car battle for the lead continued as the second stage wound down. A miscue from Kyle Busch, who made his 650th Cup Series start Sunday, opened the door for both Dillon and Reddick to move up.
Despite running the entire second stage on old tires, Reddick held off Dillon to narrowly win Stage 2.
Spin cycle
The first restart of Stage 3 came on Lap 152, with 98 laps to go. It wasn’t long before another caution came out, as Larson — and his old tires — dropped out of the top 10 after a big spin in Turn 4.
Double digits
Another restart came with 89 laps to go, as Bell continued to lead with Briscoe following close behind. The 11th caution of the night came out when Larson got into the wall in Turns 1 and 2 after contact with Preece once again.
Larson’s day cut short after collision
Kyle Larson had his race cut short after costly collision with Ryan Preece.
Final words
That crash damage ended Larson’s race early, along with Davenport, who got caught up in the collision.
‘I’m guessing he was paying me back’
Kyle Larson discusses the late caution that ended his race early at Bristol.
All-out battle
A three-car battle for the lead involving Bell, Dillon and Briscoe emerged with less than 40 laps to go.
Reddick got in on the action, catching up to Briscoe and putting him in the fence after a crafty slide job. Just like that, Reddick was in second behind Bell, whose lead was down to just over half a second with less than 20 laps remaining.
Not so fast
Blaney went around in Turn 2, ending his chance of winning at Bristol.
Meanwhile, it was still Bell and Reddick racing hard at the front of the field with five laps to go.
Winner!
In the end, Bell got it done on the Tennessee dirt, scoring his first win of the 2023 season at Bristol.
Bell victorious in Bristol
Christopher Bell won the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
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