By CJ Carlson
The NASCAR Cup Series continued in Phoenix this weekend with the Shriner’s Children 500 at Phoenix Raceway. None were better than Christopher Bell though, as he was able to take the lead in the competition with 40 laps to go, never wavering from that point onwards to emerge as the winner.
Bell’s huge win now makes him the eighth separate winner at Phoenix in the past eight races. Not just that, but the victory helped break a three-race, season-opening winning streak from Chevrolet. Bell was able to win the race by a solid five seconds over Chris Buescher as well. For him, it was the seventh win he’s accumulated over 148 career starts.
NASCAR Race In Phoenix Didn’t Go Well For Everybody
Other news from this race saw Corey Lajoie get into a wreck, snapping his ridiculously long streak of 44 consecutive races without a DNF. It was the longest active streak in the Cup Series, but that’s now gone. LaJoie found himself in the middle of a collision after John Hunter Nemechek rear-ended Joey Logano. Multiple other cars got caught in the ensuing moments of that collision, and for LaJoie, it resulted in a DNF down the line.
Finally, there’s some bad blood brewing between Erik Jones and Chase Briscoe. Jones was able to get into the top-5 for this recent race, but later on got sent four-wide, and he believes it was because of Chase Briscoe. Jones had wrecked and done damage to his car, including damage to the steering wheel, causing him to fall behind. When asked about it, Jones said, “The 14 (Chase Briscoe) was dragging us down over and over, restart after restart and he put us four wide because he was slowing us down so much. I got wrecked, so that sucks, but he seems \to have an issue with me every week. So, I’ll call him this week, he probably won’t call me back and I’d love to talk to him.”
When speaking to Briscoe about it, he said that he’d gladly answer the phone if Jones called him, and that he doesn’t feel there’s any bad blood at all. He said, “I don’t know what I did, I know we were four wide at one point, I got super tight and got into him I think but I don’t know if that’s the part he’s mad about or what. If he calls me, I’ll gladly answer, I’ve never really talked to Erik before I don’t have a problem with him at all.”