Christopher Bell won his second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series race of the 2025 season, capturing the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
Bell, who won last week’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, became the first driver since Kevin Harvick in 2018 to win two of the first three races to start a season. William Byron, who finished second on the first road-course race of 2025, won the season-opening Daytona 500 and triumphed at COTA last year.
Bell’s 11th career Cup Series victory denied Kyle Busch’s valiant attempt to break a 59-race winless streak. Busch had dominated the final stage and led a race-high 42 laps before being passed by Bell in Turn 1 with five laps remaining. The two-time series champion ended up fading to fifth after using up his tires trying to defend against Bell’s surge.
Pole sitter and 2023 winner Tyler Reddick finished third, and Chase Elliott rebounded from an early incident to finish fourth.
NASCAR Cup Series at COTA – Top 10 finishers
(Starting position in parentheses)
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(19) Christopher Bell, Toyota
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(15) William Byron, Chevrolet
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(1) Tyler Reddick, Toyota
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(3) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet
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(8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet
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(6) Shane Van Gisbergen, Chevrolet
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(24) Chris Buescher, Ford
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(17) Noah Gragson, Chevrolet
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(21) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet
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(10) Todd Gilliland, Ford
NASCAR Cup Series at COTA – Stage 2 results
Ryan Preece assumed the lead after the top four drivers – Shane Van Gisbergen, Kyle Busch, AJ Allmendinger and William Byron – came to pit road two laps before the stage ended. Those four had a big enough lead that they were still able to finish in the Top 10 even after their green-flag pit stops.
Preece led the final two laps of the second stage, but Van Gisbergen paced the field for the majority of it.
Here are 10 drivers that received points at the end of Stage 2 in order of finish:
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Ryan Preece
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Ryan Blaney
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Michael McDowell
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Kyle Busch
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Shane Van Gisbergen
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AJ Allmendinger
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Bubba Wallace
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William Byron
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Christopher Bell
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Daniel Suarez
NASCAR Cup Series at COTA – Stage 1 results
Bubba Wallace earned his first stage win on a road course after capturing the 20-lap opening segment. Wallace, who started second, elected to stay out on the track despite most of the field making green-flag pit stops before the end of the segment. Joey Logano, who finished second, also elected not to pit, along with Chase Elliott.
Here are 10 drivers that received points at the end of Stage 1 in order of finish:
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Bubba Wallace
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Joey Logano
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Shane Van Gisbergen
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Kyle Busch
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Chase Elliott
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Tyler Reddick
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Kyle Larson
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Daniel Suarez
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William Byron
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AJ Allmendinger
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NASCAR COTA race results: Highlights from Christopher Bell’s win
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