By Alanis Thames

Associated Press

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Christopher Bell wasn’t thinking of winning the race.

Balance issues with his Toyota caused him to fall to 22nd place after Stage 2 on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But Bell took advantage of a late caution in Stage 3 and stormed from behind for his second win of the season.

“I can’t even say I was thinking of a win at any point in the day except maybe the last 10 laps,” Bell said.

Bell took the lead with 15 laps to go and held off Ryan Blaney for a win that locked him into next month’s
NASCAR Cup Series championship finale.

Bell, who entered the race below the playoff cutline, will compete for the championship for the second straight year. He beat Blaney by 1.651 seconds and only led 26 of 267 laps in a chaotic race in which three playoff drivers did not finish.

“Today was a whirlwind, for sure,” said Bell, who drives the No. 20 for Joe Gibbs Racing. “To be able to overcome and to be in that bad of a spot … it was just incredible that difference a couple pit stop adjustments will do to your car. “

There were 25 lead changes – one fewer than the track record of 26 set in 2011.

Blaney, who led for 53 laps, moved above the cutline – up from seventh. Tyler Reddick and William Byron finished third and fourth and are still vying for a spot in the Nov. 5 title-deciding finale.

Six drivers will compete for the remaining two spots next week in the final race of the round of eight at Martinsville Speedway.

Kyle Larson, last year’s Homestead winner, was out of the race at Lap 214 after he slammed into the pit road barriers trying to overtake Blaney for the lead. Larson was going too fast after heading into pit lane and said he didn’t expect Blaney to slow down as early as he did.

“I was just maximizing all I could,” said a frustrated Larson afterward. “I hate it for Ryan more than anything. He was doing a super good job out front. That was not my intention. I was just trying to get as close to his back bumper as I could, hopefully have a good cycle and have a better pit stop, then come out in front of him and control the race from there.”

Larson’s No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet clipped the rear of Blaney’s Ford, but Blaney was able to pit as the caution flag came out and continued.

Larson had been dominating the race, in which he was a favorite to win. He led for 96 laps before Blaney nudged ahead of him late in Stage 2.

The poor result was largely inconsequential for Larson. He was already locked into the finale after his victory a week earlier in Las Vegas.

The crash briefly made it a race between Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin, who took the lead on the restart. But JJ Yeley, Brad Keselowski and Ross Chastain were all involved in a wreck seconds later, causing the caution flag to come out for the fifth time in the race, which ultimately gave Bell room to stage a comeback.

After the restart, Hamlin slammed into the wall in Turn 1 and radioed that something broke in the steering and sent him into the wall. He was out of the race with 32 laps to go in an unfortunate turn of events for Joe Gibbs Racing – Hamlin’s teammate Martin Truex Jr., another playoff driver, left with an engine issue moments later.

The race was named the 4EVER 400 presented by Mobil 1 in a nod to Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, who will retire from NASCAR at the end of this season after 60 career victories and three NASCAR national series championships.

Sunday was Harvick’s last race at the track where he won the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship nine years ago. He finished 11th Sunday.

UNLUCKY BUESCHER

RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, who entered the race at eighth in the playoff field, had trouble with his No. 17 Ford from the start. Buescher was the only playoff driver Sunday without Stage 1 points, and his 21st-place finish puts him in a must-win situation next week at Martinsville.

Buescher dropped from seventh to eighth in the playoff standings entering the race after Blaney’s disqualification from the Las Vegas race was reversed.