The next wave is here, and more is on the way
NASCAR’S youth movement was on full display this weekend — at all levels of racing.
Christopher Bell, 26, stole the show on Sunday, running down, catching, and then passing past champion Joey Logano to win his first Cup race in just his 38th start.
With 25-year-old Chase Elliott winning last year’s championship, Bell winning Sunday, and an influx of talent at all three national series levels, it’s clear now that the NASCAR young-guns are here.
Time to make everyone feel old!
First gear
Yes, Bell caught and passed Logano because he was the one on fresh tires. But don’t let that take away from the fact the Joe Gibbs racer had one of the fastest cars in the field on Sunday.
Bell challenged road-course ace Chase Elliott all afternoon, and, like Elliott, pitted late in the race. Both drivers started in the middle of the pack, but it was Bell who maneuvered his way through the field like a savvy veteran, eventually catching Logano.
Bell is only in his second full-time season, and is a 2017 Truck Series champion. He also made it to the championship race in both Xfinity seasons before moving over to Cup last year.
Now that he’s in good equipment, look out.
Second gear
Bell stole the show on Sunday, but young Ty Gibbs was the star of the weekend.
The grandson of NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs, 18-year-old Ty dazzled in Saturday’s Xfinity race, making a daring fourwide pass in the waning laps to win in his first national series start.
“This is a dream come true,” said an emotional Gibbs, who became just the sixth driver to win in his Xfinity debut.
Gibbs has eight wins in just 28 ARCA starts, and is set to run a handful of Xfinity races this season along with his full-time ARCA duties.
Third gear
Gibbs outran defending series champion Austin Cindric to win Saturday’s Xfinity race, but don’t get it twisted: Cindric is the class of the Xfinity field.
The 22-year-old began his title defense with a win on Daytona’s tri-oval in the Xfinity opener, and nearly made it two in a row over the weekend before his car got tangled with AJ Allmendinger’s early in the race. Still, Cindric fought back with no right-front fender and nearly won, ultimately finishing second.
It won’t be long before you see him on Sundays, either.
It’s already been announced that Cindric will replace Matt Dibenedetto in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in 2022.
Fourth gear
With Bell’s win Sunday, and Michael Mcdowell’s triumph in last week’s Daytona 500, this is the third time in Cup Series history the first two races of the season were won by first-time winners.
Don’t be surprised if the next first-timer is right around the corner.
Chase Briscoe, 26, is coming off a ninewin Xfinity campaign last season, and is in Clint Bowyer’s old No. 14 for Stewarthaas Racing. It won’t be long before he’s in Victory Lane.
Same can be said about 25-year-old Tyler Reddick, who had a sneaky good rookie campaign in 2020, along with Ross Chastain — the 28-year-old watermelon farmer who’s running full-time in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Chevy this year.
And then there’s Bubba Wallace, 27, who’s now in supposedly good equipment at the newly formed 23XI Racing. We’ll get to see this weekend at Miami just how good that car can be.