Shriners Children's 500

Christopher Bell etched his name into the history books at Phoenix Raceway, holding off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin by a razor-thin 0.049 seconds to win the Shriners Children's 500 and become the first driver to open a Cup Series season with three consecutive victories since Kyle Larson's fall 2021 streak. The finish was set up by a late-race caution when Ty Gibbs got into the wall with fewer than 10 laps remaining, bunching the field for a dramatic two-lap shootout. Hamlin actually nosed ahead at the white flag, but Bell dove underneath his teammate in the final corner and surged back to the front at the stripe in the second-closest finish in Phoenix Raceway history.

Bell's dominance throughout the afternoon was unmistakable. He led a race-high 105 of 312 laps and swept both Stage 2 and the final stage after William Byron claimed Stage 1 from the pole. The 10 caution periods for 73 laps kept the field honest, but Bell was simply the class of the field on long runs, building advantages that only restarts could erase. Hamlin's runner-up effort showed early signs of a resurgent season under new crew chief Chris Gayle, while Larson completed the podium to keep his championship hopes firmly alive.

The three-race winning streak elevated Bell to second in the championship standings behind Byron, and the No. 20 team's combination of speed, strategy, and clutch execution under pressure had the rest of the garage on notice. Josh Berry's quiet fourth-place run continued his strong start to life at Wood Brothers Racing, while Chris Buescher rounded out the top five to give RFK Racing a boost heading into the intermediate track stretch of the schedule.