CONCORD, N.C. — Christopher Bell finally has a big win to put on his résumé — even if it was a little anticlimactic.

Bell won the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway after the race was called around midnight due to wet weather with 151 laps remaining. The race had been red-flagged for more than two hours following a steady downpour.

Attempts to dry the track were unsuccessful after Bell led a race-high 90 laps in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota for his eighth career Cup Series win, and his first crown jewel race.

“It feels so good … Just to have a great race to go off of, a race that we led laps and were able to pass cars,” Bell said. “Hopefully, this is something we can build on and get back to being more consistent.”

Bell entered the race with only one top-10 finish in his previous seven Cup races.

NASCAR said that due to inclement weather, high humidity and the likelihood of resuming action after 1 a.m. local time with the track-drying process, the race was declared official.

Fans booed loudly after it was announced the race would not continue.

“It was getting booed out of the place,” Bell said with a laugh. “… It seems all of my wins come with an asterisk.”

Bell’s crew chief, Adam Stevens, said they talked repeatedly to Bell about staying in front with the bad weather coming in.

“You can’t afford to have a long pit stop in a race like this,” Stevens said. “There was a lot more pressure on the guys on pit road.”

Brad Keselowski finished second, followed by William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin.

The race was red-flagged just as Kyle Larson arrived at Charlotte Motor Speedway to take over driving Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet.

Larson had hoped to become the first driver since Tony Stewart to run all 1,100 laps as part of the Indianapolis 500-Coca-Cola 600 double, but bad weather in Indianapolis quickly nixed those plans.

After finishing 18th at the Indianapolis 500, Larson was shuttled out of the track and one plane and two helicopter rides later arrived at the 1.5-mile oval at Charlotte to cheers from the crowd.

He jogged to his pit stall in his fire suit and strapped on his helmet — only to have the race halted moments later by a heavy downpour.

He never got a chance to turn a lap at Charlotte.

Under NASCAR rules, Larson is not allowed to participate in the playoffs unless he starts every race. However, Hendrick Motorsports can submit a waiver to NASCAR, asking for an exception to the rule.

There is no guarantee that NASCAR will approve the waiver, but it’s hard to imagine the sport’s governing body keeping its top driver out of the postseason.

Larson did not address the media after the race.

Keselowski started the race 30th, but worked his way up through the field to second place and felt like he had the car to win the race if the rain had held off.

“We ran down the 20 car twice and didn’t get to see it play out,” Keselowski said. “It slipped through our fingers. I think we would have won had we run the Coke 600, but we ran the Coke 350. I’m bummed for our team, but the weather is what the weather is.”

The first half of the race had nine race leaders with Byron and Bell winning the first two stages.

Justin Allgaier, who has started 82 Cup races during his career but hasn’t been on the circuit full-time since 2015, was chosen to fill in for Larson because they have similar body types and require somewhat similar seat setups.

He did well despite not having race regularly on the Cup Series since 2015.

“My job was just not to wreck the car for Kyle,” Allgaier said.

Ryan Blaney’s bid to become the first back-to-back winner of the Coca-Cola 600 since Jimmie Johnson in 2004-05 ended when his front right tire went down on lap 143, sending his No. 12 Ford into the wall and ending his night.

“I just came off pit road and put tires on it and I don’t know if I ran over something, but one of them blew,” Blaney said. “I blew a tire going into [Turn] 3, so I don’t know if I hit something or what, but it’s kind of odd. We’ll have to go back and take a look at it. It stinks.”

CONCORD, N.C. — Charlotte Motor Speedway plans to reconfigure its 17-turn, 2.28-mile “roval” course in time for the Oct. 13 playoff race.

The move is designed to provide additional passing opportunities for drivers and force a competitive rethink of what it’ll take for teams to conquer the roval, according to track officials.

The Bank of America Roval 400 is the final race before the playoff field is trimmed from 12 to eight drivers. The roval got its name from being a combination of a road and oval course.

Changes to the course include extending the straightaway coming out of Turn 5 and creating a new Turn 6, sending the field toward a much sharper hairpin in Turn 7. A sharper apex in Turn 16 of the final chicane will be created on the front stretch.

The circuit will still feature 17 turns and a length of approximately 2.28 miles, which includes a 35-foot elevation change.

“Two distinct braking zones are going to really help the competition and provide great overtaking opportunities,” said Marcus Smith, the president and CEO of Speedway Motorsports. “One of the biggest things we’ve heard is about off-throttle time in oval racing. In road-course racing, you want as much of an opportunity as possible for a driver to play with the brake pedal, the gas pedal and the steering wheel.

“That’s what a well-designed track is going to provide — those overtaking opportunities.”

Ryan Blaney, the 2018 race winner, said the heaviest braking will be going into Turn 7, which should promote passing.

“You’re going to see a lot of good passes there, as far as people getting runs, diving it in there and taking chances,” Blaney said. “I thought that corner was tight the way it was before, but it’s going to be even tighter now. It’s going to be really exciting. Drivers like change, if it’s for a better show and for better racing that it produces. I think they’ve done that here today.”

CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Larson qualified 10th for the Coca-Cola 600 following yet another busy day of travel between Indiana and North Carolina.

Larson is attempting to join Tony Stewart on Sunday as the only drivers to complete all 1,100 miles on the same day as part of running the Indianapolis 500-Coca-Cola 600 double.

The biggest question might not be whether the highly talented Larson is up for the task, but if the weather will afford him the opportunity.

Rain is in the forecast for Indianapolis, which has the potential to delay his arrival in Charlotte.

He will start fifth at Indy in Arrow McLaren’s No. 17 car in a race that begins around 12:45 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. Immediately after, Larson will be flown to Charlotte for a race that is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. He will start 10th in the night race.

“Sure, yeah, it’s stressful because weather is always unpredictable,” Larson said earlier in the week. “But you just don’t really know until it’s happening. So it’s hard to plan for weather. You can have all these plans and backup plans and backup plans for the backup plan. But you just can’t really do anything or react until it’s kind of the moment. That’s what’s a little bit stressful.”

Last week, NASCAR made accommodations for Larson by pushing back the start of the All-Star Race 16 minutes to ensure he made it to North Wilkesboro Speedway in time for $1 million exhibition race after spending the day qualifying at the Indianapolis 500.

He arrived at the track more than an hour before the start of the race by helicopter as fans cheered.

It’s unclear how long NASCAR would postpone the start of one of its crown jewel events — one that former President Donald Trump plans to attend — if the Indianapolis 500 runs long.

Joey Logano said he’s OK with NASCAR delaying the green flag start for the Coca-Cola 600 again on Sunday — as long as it is within reason.

“Pushing it back a little bit, I’m sure, doesn’t really affect much,” said Logano, who won last week’s All-Star Race. “Pushing it back a lot does affect it a lot. Are we willing to give up ratings to get somebody here that chose not to be here to go race the Indy 500?”

Logano said it is really cool that Larson is attempting the double, but added, “I don’t think we should wait very, very long by any means because I don’t want it to hurt the rest of our sport for somebody that showed up late for the race. I don’t think I can call in and say, ‘Hey, I’m stuck in traffic because I left my house late. Can you wait for me?’ It’s not gonna happen.”