Christopher Bell looking to repeat at Phoenix, continue white-hot start to 2025 season

No NASCAR Cup Series driver has gotten off to a better start this season than Christopher Bell. 

The Norman, Oklahoma, native has won two of the first three races of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, and he has a chance to make it three out of four in Sunday's Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway. 

The best news for Bell? He's the defending winner of the Phoenix spring race, having led 50 of 312 laps in his winning effort in 2024. 

The one-mile track presents Bell with the opportunity to win on a third different track type this season and assert himself as both a weekly threat to win and a championship contender. 

Over his last five Phoenix starts, Bell has four top-10 finishes and two top-fives. The only race in that span in which Bell didn't finish inside the top-10 was the 2023 season finale, where he blew a tire and ended his championship hopes early. 

While Bell enters the weekend with his 2024 Phoenix triumph fresh in everyone's minds, it was Toyota's overall performance in the 2024 spring race that makes Bell and his Toyota teammates the favorites. A year ago at Phoenix, 298 of the race's 312 laps were led by Toyota drivers. 

NASCAR's only foreign manufacturer made quite the statement in the desert last spring, and Bell's attempt at going back-to-back at Phoenix and winning his third consecutive race will be the top storyline when the green flag flies on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.