Michael McDowell led the field to green in an eventful opening stage at Worldwide Technology Raceway. After John Hunter Nemechek and Cody Ware made contact, the caution flag flew just a few short laps into the race. Both drivers recovered, but Cody Wares’s bad luck continued when he collided with Derek Kraus on lap 18. At the restart, pole sitter McDowell reclaimed the lead. With under 10 laps to go Christopher Bell put the pressure on the leader, McDowell not backing down. As the laps in the stage winded down, the aggression amplified between the two drivers fighting for the lead. After banging doors and making contact, Bell would prevail over McDowell to sit at the top of the leaderboard and go on to collect the stage win.
After not pitting at the stage end, Todd Gilliland and Kyle Busch battled for the lead, Busch having the upper hand. Meanwhile, Gilliland quickly fell back through the field, not standing a chance against the drivers with four fresh tires. After navigating through traffic, Bell found his way back to the lead. Just shy of the halfway mark of the stage, the cars who had stayed out at the end of stage one made their way to the pit road, signaling the start of green flag pit stops.
Martin Truex Jr. hit pit road with just a little over 30 to go in the stage with what appeared to be a flat tire. Not soon after MTJ ‘s incident, Josh Berry blew a tire himself and made contact with the wall, ultimately ending his day. Bell and Chase Elliott battled for the top position, at the restart, with Bell having the advantage on the top lane. The stage would end under caution after Larson blew a tire and collected Busch with him. Bell would walk away with his second stage win of the day.
The third and final stage was underway with a three-way battle for the lead between the Team Penske cars with, Austin Cindric taking the position. Cindric continued leading over his teammates and the rest of the field, as green flag pit stops began shy of 60 laps to go. With the laps of stage three getting fewer and fewer, Ryan Blaney and Bell battled each other for the spot that would put them in position to win, with neither driver letting up.
With less than 20 to go while battling with Blaney for the lead, disaster struck for Bell, who reported over the radio that he was “blowing up.” Blaney finally had a solid hold of the lead, as Bell limped his car through the field. At the white flag, it seemed like it was a done deal for Blaney, but in a shocking turn of events, he ran out of fuel, allowing Austin Cindric to get his second career win. Bell who dominated the race, would finish 7th, despite engine troubles.
Featured image credits to @Team_Penske on X.
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