Bell, Hamlin battle bought Suarez space and time

Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin were racing each other and the incoming weather, but in the process, they didn’t give themselves a chance to race Daniel Suarez.

It cost both the victory in the Coca-Cola 600.

“I didn’t really think we were going to lose the racetrack,” Bell said. “I think they [NASCAR] ultimately made the right call calling the race. Daniel did a great job; he did everything right to defend the position and win the race. I knew it was going to come down to keeping him pinned on the restart, not letting him clear me for the lead, and he cleared me for the lead.”

Suarez was on older tires against the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, having been given two tires on what ended up being the final pit stop of the race under caution with 48 laps to go. It was a caution called for lightning, but the hold only lasted five minutes since the strikes were moving away from the racetrack.

Bell, Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and others followed Suarez off pit road. All of them had four tires.

Suarez stood his ground on the bottom lane for a restart with 41 laps to go. Then came the final restart, with 31 laps to go, after a brief halt for rain, in which he again played defense from the front. With 29 laps to go, Bell made a run on Suarez on the high side off Turn 2 while Hamlin came from the bottom, and the two bounced off each other down the backstretch.

The teammates got side-by-side through Turns 3 and 4 and down the frontstretch, again helping Suarez remain clear in the lead. Then the caution flew before they got to Turn 1 with 28 laps to go, and that was all she wrote.

“It was just a matter of who could get clear between me and [Bell], and we couldn’t clear each other, and it was buying (Suarez) some extra time,” Hamlin said. “And it was just enough time because every time he’d wash up the track … I’m pinned to the bottom about to get beside [Suarez], the caution came out. It was really unfortunate.”

Hamlin won the second stage and led 75 laps. He finished third.

Bell won the third stage and led 44 laps. He was credited with finishing second.

“It’s 2026, man, nothing’s gone right for us so far,” Bell said. “I am happy that we got away with a great race, a second-place finish, a lot of points [were] really good, but obviously, could have had more.”

And yet, it was the first top-five finish for Bell and his team in over two months.

“It was [a good points day],” Bell acknowledged. “And ultimately, with this new format, this means a lot more than what it would with the old format. So, I’m happy to get out of here with some momentum, and we keep showing car potential, we keep showing how fast we are, and certainly today we got a result that shows that.”