By Adam Carabine & Logan Morris
Logan Morris: Hey Adam, here we are again. It's another week and another victory for Christopher Bell. He, of course, is the story, but much was made about the option tire. The race featured a very solid finish. However, we’re singing the same tune, ring ring goes the Bell for the third straight week!
Adam Carabine: Hello again Logan, good to meet you back here at the Post Race Inspection! To be honest, I’m not sure we should be as surprised to see Bell back in victory lane for the third time in a row. He has been the most consistent and had the best car week in and week out, and Phoenix is a track he’s had success at before. It’s still hard to believe, though, because of the parity of this league at the moment. Let’s circle back (see what I did there?) to the option tire later, talk to me about Bell. Is he going to make it four in a row?
LM: It’s extremely difficult for me to believe that he’ll pull off four in a row next week. Why? Well, you mentioned it - the parity. There’s more of it than ever in 2025. So, for someone to pull off three in a row is incredible. Four in a row? That would be astonishing. Remember, these crews are working all week, and they’re the best in the world at what they do. Could Bell win? Absolutely. But, guys like Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, and William Byron feel like the early favorites for me. Do you think Bell pulls it off?
AC: I’m less bullish on his chances at Vegas than I was with Phoenix. Vegas is not his best track - he actually has the 12th best average finish there of all Cup drivers (17.40). And while previous average finish at a track isn’t necessarily the only way to measure your potential, it does give you an idea of whether there’s a pattern here. Bell has never won at Vegas, and there’s some really strong competition for him.
But let’s also be honest, the intangible here is momentum. Bell clearly has the momentum on his side, and is there anything more powerful than that? Even if the only effect it has is to demoralize the rest of the field, it counts. If I had to put money on it, I’d say he doesn’t win a fourth in a row, but I’m willing to come back here next week and eat my words.
Let’s talk option tire. I personally loved it. What are your thoughts?
LM: Overall, I loved it. I am very much pro anything that adds another layer of strategy to the race. For the most part, I like the stages, but one of the things that stage racing has hurt is the strategy aspect of races. The option tire brought that back in the big way. We saw drivers putting their chips on the table all race long.
Look no further than Ty Dillon - when was the last time we saw him run up front like that? Quite frankly, outside of a superspeedway, I’m not sure we ever have. It gave guys like him a boost, but not to the point that it hurt the purity of the racing, if that makes sense? Christopher Bell was the cream of the crop no matter the tire strategy. I thought it added a new wrinkle, without becoming some sort of gimmick or quick fix for struggling teams. I hope we see it back soon!
AC: I agree with you wholeheartedly, which is rare! At some of these shorter tracks, the Next-Gen car has made it harder to pass, and so giving teams a different way to make passes on the track was fun, especially for the traditionally less-exciting middle sections of the race. When you’ve got Ryan Preece leading 34 laps on a differing tire strategy from the regular leaders, that’s exciting. The gamble didn’t necessarily pay off for Preece, as he wound up finishing P15, but it was more fun than him staying 15th for the entire race.
I loved the strategy differences, and also the fact that all of the teams were essentially coming in blind. I said this about COTA way back when, too - I liked that none of the teams really knew what to expect about the new shortened layout. When you have the lower funded teams against the Hendricks of the world, preparation is a hard place to get an advantage. When all of the teams are experimenting on the fly, like they were with the option tire this past weekend, it levels out the playing field, and the fans who watch are the winners.
LM: We agree again! Sometimes NASCAR can become a little cookie-cutter and from a viewer's perspective it can occasionally feel like it becomes almost routine and even mundane. There was none of that this week. The added layer had everyone playing a new form of chess and as you said, the fans won because of it.
AC: I know there aren’t any immediate plans to get the option tire back, but I’d be curious to see it at a mile-and-a-half, or maybe even a road course. Let’s see what sort of havoc that might throw at these teams.
If I had to nitpick, I’d say that the FOX booth could have done a better job explaining who was on which tire, or figuring out a better graphic way to show the differing strategies. It seemed to get both Mike Joy and Clint Bowyer tongue-tied at multiple times throughout the broadcast, but I suppose they need a little time to adapt to it as well.
Anyway - let’s move on to our weekly awards!
Best Performer
LM: For best performer, I typically avoid the obvious answer, but Christopher Bell is a must-pick. He was the best car top to bottom, flag to flag, any way you slice it.
AC: I would agree with you on Bell, but just to be different I’ll pick someone else. Josh Berry had a heck of a day, bringing the No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse home 4th. Known as being somewhat of a short-track ringer, Berry had a quiet day, but rode around in the Top 10 all day, and pushed forward to earn his first Top 5 of the year. It also just so happened to be his first Top-25 of the year - so I’m sure he’s hoping it’s a good turnaround for a slow start.
Biggest Move of the Race
LM: My biggest move of the race has to be the race finish, Bell, Hamlin, and Larson all had a legitimate chance and in an era where there’s far more “taking” than there is “giving” on the track, they all put on a masterclass of hard racing without going too far. My hat is off to all three of them. What a sequence, and what a finish.
AC: Solid choice, it really was a thrilling finish to a great race! For me the move of the race was Alex Bowman narrowly missing a spinning Katherine Legge. The FOX booth actually initially reported a bit of damage for Bowman, it was so close. But upon looking at the replay there was no contact. Saving it there helped Bowman finish with a P7, rather than a DNF.
LM: Alex Bowman had to be nimble. No question.
AC: He might’ve been able to jump over a candlestick!
Biggest Disappointment
LM: My biggest disappointment has to be Chase Briscoe. Another rough day, during what has been a trying start to the season. We talked about momentum earlier. I thought the overturning of his penalty would give him some good mojo going into a track he’s won at. It wasn’t to be. He seems to find himself in a tough position to start 2025.
AC: No doubt there will be some growing pains at JGR for Chase Briscoe, hopefully it doesn’t take long for him to get used to the new team.
For me, the biggest disappointment was Katherine Legge. I hate to say it, because I love the idea of having more females in the sport. I think the more diverse the field, the better the product is for the viewing audience. At COTA, I heard Daniel Suarez talk about what it’s like for young kids growing up in Mexico, seeing someone that looks like them driving in NASCAR’s premiere series. This is important stuff.
However, Katherine Legge jumping into a somewhat last-minute deal with Live Fast Racing - aka BJ McLeod’s sometimes-Cup Series team - was not the slam dunk I had hoped it would be.
It’s a tough spot for Legge to be in, where she’s never driven a Next-Gen Cup car before, and she’s in likely the worst equipment of anyone on the track. I wasn’t disappointed in her performance - I think she did the best she could given the circumstances. I would have liked to have seen her given a real shot with decent equipment, rather than this.
What to Watch for Next Weekend
LM: I don’t disagree with anything you said. Hopefully, she’ll get another opportunity soon. The story of this upcoming weekend at Vegas will undoubtedly be the question of Christopher Bell winning four in a row. I’m going to say the streak ends next week. The other thing I’m curious about is will this be the week Ford breaks through and finds themselves in victory lane? Joey Logano? Ryan Blaney? Brad K? All have had success at this track over the years. If Ford doesn’t get it done this week, we will have to wonder if we’re experiencing deja vu.
AC: I’m not ready to hit the panic button on the Fords just yet, but both Phoenix and Vegas are traditionally Ford-forward tracks. I also agree with you, Bell does not win a fourth in a row, but I’m going to say he goes out with something random like a mechanical failure.
Joey Logano seems to be the one to beat at Vegas - he’s the winningest current Cup driver there with four wins. But if the Fords don’t show up, don’t sleep on Kyle Larson.
This weekend will be the first ‘normal’ mile-and-a-half track. No option tire, no gimmicks, just pure racing. I’m looking forward to it! We’ll catch up next week to break it down, thanks again Logan!
LM: Always a pleasure, Adam! Let’s see who challenges Wayne Newton for the title of Mr. Las Vegas!
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