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.
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.”
The Ottawa Senators have opened up a nice gap as the first wild card, with 75 points and 26 regulation wins in 65 games. Beyond them, things get interesting.
If it comes down to the regulation-wins tiebreaker at season’s end, the Rangers have an upper hand over all the rest, with 29 in that column, compared with 23 for the Jackets, Red Wings and Bruins, and just 22 for the Habs.
The Canadiens host the Panthers also at 7 p.m. (NHL Network)
The Blue Jackets face the visiting Rangers also at 7 p.m. (ESPN+)
And if they have their sights set on catching the Senators, these clubs are all rooting for the Maple Leafs, who host Ottawa (7 p.m., ESPN+). It’s a great night for multiple streaming devices!
There is a lot of runway left until April 17, the final day of the regular season, and we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Points: 62 Regulation wins: 23 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 15 Points pace: 75.9 Next game: vs. WPG (Sunday) Playoff chances: ~0% Tragic number: 22
Points: 45 Regulation wins: 13 Playoff position: N/A Games left: 15 Points pace: 55.1 Next game: vs. WSH (Saturday) Playoff chances: ~0% Tragic number: 5
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.
The Texas Rangers‘ pitching staff took another hit Friday, when right-hander Jon Gray suffered a right wrist fracture.
Gray was struck by a line drive from Colorado Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia to lead off the fourth inning that knocked him out of the game.
“Not good news, not good news,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. “It’s terrible. I feel awful for him, to be this close to getting the season going. It’s just not good news. I’ll get back in there and find out more, but right now, there is a fracture.”
Gray’s injury is the third setback for the Rangers rotation this week. The team said Thursday that left-hander Cody Bradford would start the season on the injured list because of soreness in his throwing elbow. Tyler Mahle had been scratched from a start with forearm soreness, but the right-hander returned to pitch in a minor league game Thursday.
Gray went 5-6 with a 4.47 ERA in 23 appearances (19 starts) for the Rangers last season, when he was shut down in September for a foot injury that required surgery. He is in the final year of a four-year, $56 million deal.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
TOKYO — Japanese star Shohei Ohtani showed off some prodigious power in his return to the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night.
In an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants, the three-time Most Valuable Player belted a long two-run homer to right field in the third inning to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead, setting off a roar from the roughly 42,000 fans in attendance.
The Dodgers put on quite a power display in the third with Michael Conforto, Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández all going deep to give Los Angeles a 5-0 advantage.
The Dodgers are playing in Japan as part of the Tokyo Series. The team is playing two exhibition games against Japanese teams before starting the regular season with two games against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to have at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in one season in 2024. He played several seasons for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan before coming to the U.S. in 2018 with the Los Angeles Angels.