LAS VEGAS — Christopher Bell rocketed to the rear bumper of race leader Kyle Larson off the final corner at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
That was as close as he would get.
After erasing a near two-second deficit, Bell was 0.082 seconds shy of Victory Lane in Sunday’s South Point 400, the Round of 8 opener as the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs reaches its climax. Larson’s win seals his spot into the Championship 4, locking him into title contention in the Nov. 5 season finale at Phoenix Raceway. Bell, meanwhile, sits two points outside the provisional elimination line with two more chances ahead to return to the championship fight.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos
“I really feel like that was our chance,” Bell said. “That was our chance to make Phoenix this year, and it slipped away from us. So I don’t know. We’ve still got two more races to get ourselves in position. So I feel good about that. But to be that close really stinks.”
Bell qualified on the pole position for an incredible sixth time this season and led 61 of 267 laps, the second-best of the day. But Larson swept the stage victories, led a race-high 133 circuits and managed to fend off the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for his fourth win of the season and lock into the Championship 4 for the second time in three years.
Bell, the only member of last year’s Championship 4 still in contention this season, said he did everything he could to eliminate the gap to Larson as laps ticked away. But the Oklahoma native simply couldn’t get there in time and was left to settle for second.
“I definitely think I could have completed the pass had I got there earlier,” Bell said. “He was really struggling and hanging on. I just didn’t get there.”
RELATED: No. 20 crew chief Stevens: ‘The pressure is on right now’
The two share plenty of history racing one another — for years on dirt tracks before both ending up at stock-car racing’s top level. As Larson drove his No. 5 Chevrolet to Victory Lane, he offered a thumbs-up to Bell, who returned the favor while standing on pit road.
Bell's late rally isn't enough! @KyleLarsonRacin wins at @LVMotorSpeedway! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/nLiBHGxrdk
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 15, 2023
“That was just me kind of showing respect and saying thanks in a way for, you know, having us race it out,” Larson said of his gesture. “Obviously, I’m happy because I won. But he’s always been a really fair, clean racer. You know, we’ve had numbers and numbers of battles in in stock cars, but most mostly in dirt tracks, and I’m typically the one that is the aggressor or the aggressive one in our battles and probably push the limit of being dirty sometimes.
“So, you know, for him to continue to race me clean, you know, I definitely have a ton of respect for him,” continued Larson, who tested for the Indianapolis 500 last week. “Always have. He’s, in my opinion, one of the best race car drivers in the world and could do everything that I get to do outside of NASCAR if his team would let him. It’s just fun to get to battle with a guy like that.”
What the No. 20 team left Las Vegas lacking in guarantees, it made up for in execution. In a season that has seen Bell or crew members face adversity — some of which was self-inflicted — Vegas produced a clean, issue-free contest for Bell.
“That’s what we should be doing every week. And I think that we’re capable of it,” Bell said. “I’ve been saying it for a while that if all of us do our jobs, then we’re going to be right there in the thick of it and we showed that today.”