NASCAR at Atlanta results: Christopher Bell wins a thriller after crash on last lap freezes the field

HAMPTON, Ga. — At the end of the second overtime finish to start the 2025 season, Christopher Bell won the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway after a last lap duel with Kyle Larson ended with Bell just ahead of both Larson and Carson Hocevar when the caution came out for a crash on the backstraightaway. The yellow flag froze the field at the moment of caution, allowing Bell to drive back to the checkered flag to earn his 10th career Cup Series win and his first of the year.

In a race that featured 50 lead changes among 15 different drivers, Bell was put in a position to win in the closing laps after driving through the end result of contact between Larson and Austin Cindric racing for the lead, as Cindric and Daytona 500 winner William Byron ended up crashing on the backstretch to bring out the yellow flag and send the race to overtime. After lining up behind Larson for the final restart, the two were side-by-side when Bell received a massive bump draft from Hocevar, putting him ahead as the caution came out for a multi-car crash on the backstretch involving Josh Berry and others.

The win puts Bell on the NASCAR playoffs grid just two races into the season, setting up his shot at redemption after he narrowly missed out on the Championship 4 a year ago despite having arguably the best statistical season in Cup — and he also earns his first win in a superspeedway-style race.

“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,” Bell told Fox Sports. “[Crew chief Adam Stevens] 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.”

Crossing the finish line in second, Hocevar, the 2024 Cup Series Rookie of the Year, earned the best finish of his career. But it didn’t come without him earning a few enemies as well. Hocevar’s aggression drew the ire of several of his competitors, and he ended up having two stern post-race discussions with other drivers. Ross Chastain went over to have an extended discussion with Hocevar the two ultimately shook hands on, while Ryan Blaney evidently also wanted to make himself clear after Hocevar spun him out of a chance to win in the closing laps.

“I mean, there’s some stuff I got to learn and clean up a little bit, but I feel like we put ourselves in the perfect opportunity to try and win a race,” said Hocevar, who told Fox Sports he declined to elaborate on what was discussed with Chastain or Blaney. “I’ve never had that opportunity really before, especially on a superspeedway.

“So just a big day today for everybody at Spire Motorsports. They deserve all the praise. I just get to hold the wheel and run wide open and just try to put myself in a decent spot. Unfortunately it wasn’t the best spot, but it was just one spot short.”

The run to the finish also left Cindric rather upset because he felt that Larson pinched him between the No. 5 car’s right rear and the outside wall coming off Turn 2, leading to the crash that took both him and Byron out of contention. Speaking to reporters outside the infield care center, Cindric fumed that Larson wasn’t clear and that he had gotten put in the wall by the 2021 Cup champion, who issued a mea culpa of sorts in assessing his role in the accident.

“Just a little bit of a lazy [slide] kind of up the track. He got there a little bit quicker than I thought he would,” Larson told Fox Sports. “I thought he was going to pick me up on the exit at two. Yeah, that was probably my fault. I haven’t seen a replay, but I’m sure that was my fault.”

After two straight speedway races to open the season, the NASCAR Cup Series now goes road racing for the first time in 2025 next weekend with the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, next Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on Fox.

Ambetter Health 400 results

1. #20 – Christopher Bell
2. #77 – Carson Hocevar
3. #5 – Kyle Larson
4. #12 – Ryan Blaney
5. #47 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
6. #11 – Denny Hamlin
7. #8 – Kyle Busch
8. #1 – Ross Chastain
9. #23 – Bubba Wallace
10. #42 – John Hunter Nemechek
11. #38 – Zane Smith
12. #22 – Joey Logano
13. #71 – Michael McDowell
14. #16 – A.J. Allmendinger
15. #34 – Todd Gilliland
16. #3 – Austin Dillon
17. #35 – Riley Herbst (R)
18. #60 – Ryan Preece
19. #45 – Tyler Reddick
20. #9 – Chase Elliott
21. #19 – Chase Briscoe
22. #78 – B.J. McLeod
23. #88 – Shane van Gisbergen (R)
24. #7 – Justin Haley
25. #21 – Josh Berry
26. #48 – Alex Bowman
27. #24 – William Byron
28. #2 – Austin Cindric
29. #10 – Ty Dillon
30. #17 – Chris Buescher
31. #43 – Erik Jones
32. #54 – Ty Gibbs
33. #99 – Daniel Suarez
34. #4 – Noah Gragson
35. #51 – Cody Ware
36. #41 – Cole Custer
37. #44 – J.J. Yeley
38. #01 – Corey LaJoie
39. #6 – Brad Keselowski