NOTE: NASCAR disqualified the No. 51 after post-race inspection for a failure to meet minimum post-race weights, Section 14.11.2 of the NASCAR Rule Book.
William Byron has won for the first time at Circuit of the Americas after holding off a late charge from Christopher Bell, who crossed the line in second.
Ty Gibbs finished third. Alex Bowman, Tyler Reddick, AJ Allmendinger, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top 10.
MORE: COTA Cup results
This was Byron’s 12th career Cup win, his 10th in the Next Gen car. It also marked the third straight season where Byron, the Daytona 500 champ, was the first driver to reach two wins. The last driver to be the first repeat winner in three straight seasons was Jeff Gordon in 1997-99.
Hendrick Motorsports now has one superspeedway win, one intermediate win and one road-course win in the first six races of the season.
Byron had the dominant car Sunday, which he used to lead 42 of the 68 laps, but he did not have the easiest path to victory lane.
The race to the finish took place after Byron cycled back to the lead on Lap 51. Bowman was just behind him in second after the final round of green flag stops, while Gibbs was in third. Bell was nowhere near the front of the pack, but he put himself within 13 seconds of the leader with 16 laps to go.
Bell, who won two weeks ago in Phoenix, methodically moved through the field. He passed Bowman for third and then passed Gibbs for second with three laps remaining. From that point, it was a two-car race for the win.
Bell put himself within 1.5 seconds with half of a lap remaining in the race, using a faster car to erase the deficit. However, Bell could not get close enough to make a move for the win. He had to settle for second while Byron won his second race of the season.
Stage 1 winner: Christopher Bell
Stage 2 winner: Denny Hamlin
Sunday’s race had no natural cautions. The only breaks in the action were between the stages. This marked the first time since Road America in 2022 that a race ran without natural cautions.
Who had a good race: William Byron started from the pole and led 42 laps. He won for the second time on a road course. ... Alex Bowman didn’t have the long-run speed of Byron or Christopher Bell. He still finished fourth, his fourth consecutive top-10 finish at COTA. ... Ty Gibbs crossed the line third. COTA was his fifth straight top-10 finish. ... Bubba Wallace rebounded from hard contact with Corey LaJoie and Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 1, multiple pit stops and a spin. He finished 15th, his first time finishing a race at COTA.
Who had a bad race: Justin Haley finished 17th but was diqualified after post-race inspection. The No. 51 did not meet minimum post-race weights. ... Austin Cindric started 11th and raced inside the top 10 during Stage 1. He fell outside the top 20 after extended time on pit road for repairs to his front end. He finished 18th. ... Michael McDowell lost power steering late in Stage 2. He made multiple stops on pit road before going to the garage with five laps to go. He finished 38th. ... Chase Elliott received a penalty in the final stage after losing control in the esses. He served a pass-through from the top 10. He then spun from 11th with 14 laps remaining. He finished 16th.
