Bell, Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin put three Camrys in the Round of 8
CONCORD, N.C. (October 5, 2025) – Christopher Bell led Toyota with a third-place finish at the final road course race of the year – the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL on Sunday. Bell, who clinched his Round of 8 berth after the second stage, earned his fifth top-five finish in six road course races this season.
Bell will be joined in the Round of 8 by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin. Bell is looking for his third Championship 4 appearance in the last four years, while Hamlin is trying to advance to his first Championship 4 since 2021. A Championship 4 berth with be Briscoe’s first. To begin the round, Hamlin holds the points lead – eight points to the good. Bell is in fifth, four points out, while Briscoe is the six seed – 14 points back.
The 23XI Racing teams of Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace fought valiantly to advance to the next round but came up short of moving on.
Toyota GAZOO Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL
Race 32 of 36 – 248.52 miles, 109 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Shane van Gisbergen*
2nd, Kyle Larson*
3rd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
4th, Chris Buescher*
5th, Michael McDowell*
10th, TYLER REDDICK
12th, TY GIBBS
14th, CHASE BRISCOE
15th, BUBBA WALLACE
23rd, DENNY HAMLIN
26th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
30th, RILEY HERBST
31st, ERIK JONES
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What made the difference running up front?
“What made the difference, I don’t know. It felt kind of like the rest of the road courses. We had a hell of a race for second between me and my DEWALT Camry, (Chris) Buescher and (Kyle) Larson. It is that 88 (Shane van Gisbergen) car was what 30 seconds ahead of us. Congratulations to Shane and that Trackhouse team. They have set the bar, and we are all clearly having a hard time getting up to it.”
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 10th
What went wrong today?
“I don’t know if anything necessarily went wrong today for how the race was playing out. We wanted to prioritize setting up to win the race. I think you could pick it apart – a couple restarts and what not, just kind of, as the race unfolded our long run was not where it needed to be with the top guys. Stage three there, we didn’t make the progress that we needed too, so we kind of went long there hoping for a caution there, and lost a lot of spots, but at the end of the day, we were trying to set ourselves up for a caution late. Looking back on it, my crew chief, Billy Scott, said we were only out by 14 – maybe we could have chased point a little bit harder there, so a few things to look back on, but coming into this, we played it the way we should have.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 14th
Battled through adversity today. How were you able to overcome it?
“I don’t know. It was definitely an odd day. We definitely just weren’t that great. I don’t know. They gave me a pill in the beginning, and I felt a lot better. I was just so dizzy – I’ve been fighting something all week, and I sound terrible, I’m sure. After those first 20 laps, I was able to kind of feel fine. At the end I was struggling a little bit, but I was just focusing on not making any mistakes. Not a super pretty day for our Bass Pro Shops, Tracker Toyota. It was good enough, that’s all we needed to do.”
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
Where was it missing for you here today?
“Last week. Just was thrown for a loop with this tire, and it is funny to look at myself and Denny (Hamlin) and a couple others at the short tracks, when tires degrade, we are pretty good at being able to save tire. Him and I both suck on road courses and we can’t save tires on road courses. It is just frustrating. It is back to how I was a couple of years ago. Frustrated at self, just knowing what was on the line, and didn’t produce, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. I appreciate everyone on this Leidos Toyota team for pushing hard. This one sucks worse than last week for sure. I had high hopes coming in here, and it is what it is.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Progressive Insurance Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 23rd
Can you walk me through what happened on that last lap and were you aware of what was going on with the points situation?
“Nah, I wasn’t aware. I definitely wish I was aware, but nobody told me. I never saw the 22 (Joey Logano) that last run, and I saw the 1 (Ross Chastain) fading, but I assumed if it was close, someone would have let me know. Obviously, I was the guy in the way.”
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