The sun has set in the Valley of the Sun, and we have a race winner who’s getting familiar with Victory Lane…

Christopher Bell won his third race of the year, and has taken NASCAR by storm. The last time someone won three straight races was Kyle Larson winning three races in a row in 2021, with what should’ve been four wins, had he not blown a tire in the final corner on the final lap in the Sunday Pocono race that year. 

Kevin Harvick was the last driver to win three of the first four races of the season, with his third win ironically coming at Phoenix.

The race had a historic event, as the fall race did last year (and I was there last year!!), as in November, Joey Logano won his third championship, edging out teammate Ryan Blaney in the closing laps. In that race, NASCAR veteran Martin Truex Jr. ran his final full-time race, and was honored at the track. This year, British racing superstar Katherine Legge made her debut for Live Fast Racing in the #78 Droplight Chevrolet.

The race finished in an green-white-checkered style finish, with Christopher Bell edging out teammate Denny Hamlin, winning by 0.045 seconds, the closest on this configuration of Phoenix Raceway. 

Despite his three wins in a row, Christopher Bell is not the current points leader. William Byron leads with 165 points, and Bell follows at 152 pts. 

Some penalty news broke after the COTA race recap article was published. Austin Cindric was docked 50 points and $50,000 for right-rearing (wrecking) Ty Dillon on the front-stretch at COTA. Chase Briscoe’s L-2 Level, 100 point, 10 playoff point, $100,000, Crew Chief Suspension penalty from the Daytona 500 was overturned. According to NASCAR.com, Briscoe was originally found to be in violation of Section 14.1 of the NASCAR rule book, which pertains to vehicle assembly. The spoiler of the car was seen to be modified, but it was not. The next race is the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, on Sunday, March 16th at 3:30 PM EST on FS1. Can Christopher Bell go for four?