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Race Results

NASCAR Cup Series

O'Reilly Auto Parts 253

Daytona Road Course

February 21st, 2021

Race #2 of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Season

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O'Reilly Auto Parts 253
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Laps Scheduled: 70
Miles Raced : 249.2
Time of Race : 02 Hours 59 minutes 32 seconds
Average Speed: 84.452 mph
Margin of Victory : 02.119 seconds
Cautions: 8
Caution Laps: 12
Lead Changes: 12
Cars in Race : 40
Finished On Lead Lap: 32 (80%)

Christopher Bell celebrates — Daytona Beach, Florida - February 21st, 2021: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Cup Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 at Daytona International Speedway on February 21, 2021 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Photo by James Gilbert | Getty Images

FIN	ST	Car #	Driver	Make	TOT PTS	F PTS	B PTS	PO PTS	Laps	Led	x Led	S1	S2	STUS
1	12	20	Christopher Bell	Toyota	47	40	7	5	70	5	3	0	4	Running
2	11	22	Joey Logano	Ford	52	35	17	0	70	10	2	2	3	Running
3	4	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	52	34	18	1	70	5	1	3	1	Running
4	17	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	48	33	15	0	70	2	2	5	2	Running
5	15	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	39	32	7	0	70	0	0	4	0	Running
6	5	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	33	31	2	0	70	0	0	9	0	Running
7	34	16	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	70	2	1	0	9	Running
8	2	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	29	29	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
9	6	37	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	28	28	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
10	36	48	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	27	27	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
11	30	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	27	26	1	0	70	0	0	10	0	Running
12	19	19	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota	35	25	10	0	70	0	0	7	5	Running
13	13	41	Cole Custer	Ford	27	24	3	0	70	0	0	0	8	Running
14	37	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	23	23	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
15	27	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	22	22	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
16	35	99	Daniel Suarez	Chevrolet	21	21	0	0	70	2	1	0	0	Running
17	26	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	20	20	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
18	16	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Chevrolet	19	19	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
19	38	96	Ty Dillon	Toyota	0	0	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
20	33	6	Ryan Newman	Ford	17	17	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
21	1	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	31	16	15	1	70	44	3	1	6	Running
22	31	38	Anthony Alfredo	Ford	15	15	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
23	39	15	James Davison	Chevrolet	14	14	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
24	20	77	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
25	21	51	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	0	0	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
26	10	23	Bubba Wallace	Toyota	11	11	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
27	25	53	Garrett Smithley	Ford	0	0	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
28	28	78	Scott Heckert	Ford	9	9	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
29	40	66	Timmy Hill	Ford	0	0	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
30	8	5	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	12	7	5	0	70	0	0	6	0	Running
31	7	7	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	6	6	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
32	18	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	5	5	0	0	70	0	0	0	0	Running
33	22	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	8	4	4	0	69	0	0	0	7	Running
34	3	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	6	3	3	0	69	0	0	8	0	Running
35	14	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	3	2	1	0	69	0	0	0	10	Running
36	23	52	Josh Bilicki	Ford	1	1	0	0	68	0	0	0	0	Brakes
37	32	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	1	1	0	0	65	0	0	0	0	Running
38	24	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	58	0	0	0	0	Accident
39	9	42	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	26	0	0	0	0	Accident
40	29	0	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	1	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	Engine

Race Infractions

O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 at Daytona Road Course

Driver	Infraction	Penalty	Lap	Lap Assessed	Flag
Erik Jones	Pre-Race to the Rear Engine Change (From the Daytona 500 single engine rule)	Tail End	0	0	White
Garrett Smithley	Pre-Race to the Rear Unapproved Adjustments	Tail End	0	0	White
Justin Haley	Pre-Race to the Rear Multiple Inspection Failures	Tail End	0	0	White
Michael McDowell	Pitting before pit road is open	Tail End	1	3	Yellow
Michael McDowell	Driving through more than 3 pit boxes	Tail End	1	3	Yellow
William Byron	Tire violation Uncontrolled Tire	Tail End	12	13	Yellow
Tyler Reddick	Tire violation Uncontrolled Tire	Tail End	12	13	Yellow
Ty Dillon	Crewmember(s) over the wall too soon	Tail End	17	19	Yellow
Ross Chastain	Pitting before pit road is open Garage	Tail End	27	0	Yellow
Chase Briscoe	Tire violation Uncontrolled Tire	Tail End	28	29	Yellow
AJ Allmendinger	Speeding on pit road	Tail End	35	37	Yellow
Bubba Wallace	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	40	41	Green
Anthony Alfredo	Unspecified Didn't serve Stop N Go after missing front stretch chicane	Pass Thru	42	43	Green
Matt DiBenedetto	Unspecified Went to garage after missing both chicanes served penalty upon return	Tail End	53	60	Green
AJ Allmendinger	Too many crewmember(s) in contact with pit service area	Tail End	59	60	Yellow
Kyle Busch	Speeding on pit road	Pass Thru	66	68	Green

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Race Fast Facts

DAYTONA Road Course
O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 At DAYTONA
Race Winner: Christopher Bell
Age: 26
Team : No. 20 - Rheem Toyota
Owner: Joe Gibbs Racing
Crew Chief: Adam Stevens
Christopher Bell won the O'Reilly Auto Parts 253 At DAYTONA, his first victory in 38 NASCAR Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in 2021.
This is his first victory and first top-10 finish in two races at the DAYTONA Road Course.
Joey Logano (second) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at the DAYTONA Road Course. It is his first top-10 finish in 2021.
Denny Hamlin (third) posted his second top-10 finish in two races at the DAYTONA Road Course. It is his second top-10 finish in 2021.
Anthony Alfredo (22nd) was the highest finishing rookie.
This is Joe Gibbs Racing's 186th NASCAR Cup Series victory.
This is crew chief Adam Stevens' 29th win in the NASCAR Cup Series.
This is the third time in NASCAR Cup Series history the first two races of the season were won by first-time winners; joining 1949 and 1950.

Race Recap

Christopher Bell gets first NASCAR Cup win at the DAYTONA Road Course

February 21st, 2021

By Holly Cain - NASCAR Wire Service

For the second consecutive week, Daytona International Speedway crowned a first time NASCAR Cup Series race winner. Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Christopher Bell, earned the honor Sunday on the track's road course, taking the lead from Joey Logano with two laps to go and pulling away to a comfortable 2.119-second victory over the former series champion.

Bell, 26, is the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion and this is his second season at the premier level – his first driving for the championship Gibbs organization. His work Sunday, however, was more reminiscent of a veteran. There were eight caution flags, eight race leaders and a whole lot of action in the waning laps to contend with.

He pulled around Logano in the chicane just yards before the white flag and easily stretched the lead to earn his first career NASCAR Cup Series trophy. Bell's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski.

Kevin Harvick, A.J. Allmendinger, last week's Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell – also a first-time winner – Ryan Preece and Alex Bowman rounded out the top 10. This is just third season in NASCAR Cup Series history to start the season with two first-time winners; joining 1949 and 1950.

"This is definitely one of the highlights of my life so far," a smiling Bell said after climbing off the roof of his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, where he flashed the No. 1 sign to the grandstands.

"Just so incredibly thankful to be here with Joe Gibbs Racing and all our partners. This feels like I prepared my whole life for this moment to race in the Cup Series. Last year was a huge learning curve for me and I'm very grateful I got the opportunity to run in Cup and it definitely prepared me to move to Joe Gibbs Racing."

Bell's pass for the win capped an exciting and suspenseful final dozen laps. Defending race winner and reigning series champion Chase Elliott led a race best 45 laps but was caught up in heavy traffic after his final pit stop with 15 laps remaining. He won Stage 1 and was running fifth – rallying back to the front with six laps to go when he spun out in the infield – a victim of a chain reaction collision in the fender-to-fender racing at the time. He ultimately came home 21st – snapping a five-race road racing victory streak.

"Man, we had those late race cautions like that and a mixed bag of who stays and who goes," said Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

"It's a bit of a gamble either way I felt like. I think [pitting for] tires was the right move. Tires won the race. So it was the right move. You get back in traffic and gets to be so chaotic.

"Who gets through and who doesn't just kinda determines how it's going to shake out."

For much of the 70-lap race Elliott paced the field, making up ground when needed and often putting on a road course tutorial. Hamlin stayed close and kept him honest, ultimately coming home third. Logano ran among the top five for much of the race and took the lead on Lap 63 when other cars pitted for fresh tires.

"He's the one that got through with tires," Logano said of Bell. "One more caution lap would have been enough to have a door-to-door finish across the line maybe.

With his maiden win, Bell is now ranked fourth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings. Hamlin, who won Stage 2, leads the championship by 12-points over Logano heading to the Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

"I just kept doing what I was doing all day long," Bell said of the career milestone.

"Whenever we took the green flag, I felt like I was really patient. Kyle (Busch) tried to go three-wide around me at the start. I knew that I was okay. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) kept asking what I needed in the car and I didn't really need anything. Just took my time to get going, get up to speed and really proud to be here."