During Stage 2 of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway, Joey Logano made contact with Christopher Bell entering Turn 1 on Lap 215, sending both Bell and Denny Hamlin, Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, spinning.
Hamlin was to the outside of the No. 20, and Logano put his nose inside of Bell to make a pass, but the three ran out of room, leading to the incident.
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Both Hamlin and Bell continued on after the synchronized spins and rallied to score top 10s. Hamlin finished sixth, while Bell rounded out the top 10 after the race went green for the final 230 laps.
Hamlin, who entered Sunday’s Chase race presented by Mobil 1 second in points, found himself outside the top 10 after a strategy gamble of staying out through all of Stage 1. The team failed to score stage points.
Bell finished fourth in Stage 1, but was caught speeding on pit road after a Lap 199 caution for Carson Hocevar spinning in Turn 4. He remained on the lead lap, but had to restart at the tail of the field.
Points leader Kyle Larson went a lap down after following the same Stage 1 strategy as Hamlin but earned the free pass following the Bell and Hamlin caution. Larson finished ninth at the 0.526-mile Virginia short track.
Bell leapt Hamlin for second in points and trails Larson by 67 points for the championship entering the season finale next Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway (3 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Hamlin enters Homestead 70 points behind the two-time and defending Cup champion.
This story will be updated.