Christopher Bell put together a convincing win Friday night at Richmond Raceway to open the Xfinity Series playoffs.
Bell led 238 of 250 laps - a career high - and swept each stage to earn his seventh victory of the year, matching his total from 2018.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has now won three of the last four races at Richmond and six of the last 11 short track races.
The top five was made up of pole-sitter Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier and Chase Briscoe.
“That one was pretty special,” Bell told NBCSN. “Going 92 laps straight there is really difficult, man. We were sliding all around. I felt like if I could get to traffic I was going to be in good shape. Because my car could really move around good. I could run up, I could run down. (Cole Custer) was keeping pressure on us pretty good, but this Rheem Supra was too good.”
STAGE 1 WINNER: Christopher Bell
STAGE 2 WINNER: Christopher Bell
More: race results, point standings
WHO HAD A GOOD DAY: Harrison Burton was the highest finishing non-playoff driver in sixth ... Austin Cindric earned his first top five in the last four races. He finished second in both Richmond races this year ... In his 300th career Xfinity start, Justin Allgaier finished fourth after he had to start from the rear for changing a tire ... Chase Briscoe earned his first top five in the last five races.
WHO HAD A BAD DAY: Mike Marlar wasn’t able to complete the first lap of his first Xfinity start. He was involved in an incident and finished last … Vinnie Miller had a mechanical failure with 25 laps left in the first stage. He finished 35th … Tyler Matthews finished 33rd after he wrecked in Stage 1 ... Playoff driver Justin Haley had a pit road penalty and finished 17th ... John Hunter Nemechek finished 15th after he spun while trying to intentionally spin Joe Graf Jr. right before the race’s conclusion. It was retaliation for a bump-and-run by Graf earlier in the lap.
NOTABLE: Christopher Bell has a win percentage of 22%, third all-time in the Xfinity Series.
WHAT’S NEXT: Drive for the Cure 200 on the Charlotte Roval at 3:30 p.m. ET Sept. 28 on NBCSN
#NASCAR ... Here is what @JHNemechek said about @Joegrafjr and what happened on the last lap @RichmondRaceway pic.twitter.com/i6TBfEJYux
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) September 21, 2019