Bell beat out his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin by a margin of 0.049 seconds after a push from Kyle Larson on the final drive. He became the first driver to win three straight races in the NextGen era.

“Coming to the white flag, I thought I was in the losing position,” Bell said in his post race press conference. “I didn't think that there was any way I was going to win.”

According to Bell, “Steven Reed, my spotter, made a great call to peel back down off the top.”

As he pulled to the bottom Bell said, “he (Larson) just ran right into me and boosted me right to the checkered flag.”

It was the first time in NASCAR history that three of the first four races were settled by a last lap pass. Bell now has the opportunity to win four in a row, a feat that hasn’t been done since 2008. Such a chance is incredibly special to him and the team. 

“I'm in disbelief that I have that opportunity," Bell said. "But I look forward to it.”

Hamlin was on the losing end of the finish and continues to add to a losing streak dating back to April 2024. This is the second race of the season that has slipped away from him in the final lap.

“I got a really bad run off the floor coming to the line,” Hamlin said after that race. He felt like he should have down shifted, but just wasn’t ready for the move Bell made in turn three.

Hamlin was proud of the effort but more pleased with the tires that Goodyear brought. “This short track tire that we got, it is a game changer as far as the races that it puts on,” he said.

Kyle Larson made a bid for the win late in the race and finished in third place. However, he was the one that ultimately gave Bell the push that secured victory for the JGR driver.

“I felt like I made the right decisions there at the end,” Larson said after climbing out of the car. “I was hoping that Bell would be a little more desperate and really wash up into Denny.”

Another notable storyline from the finish was the rebound Josh Berry made during the race.

He recovered a pit road mistake and collected the Wood Brother’s first ever top five at Phoenix.

“Days like today are what these guys deserve,” Berry said about the team that has fielded cars in NASCAR since 1950. He showed speed all day and said it was “exciting to be here and do that.”

Still, he is committed to bringing the team’s performance to this level on a more consistent basis throughout 2025.“There's a lot, just a lot to learn from,” Berry said.

NASCAR will continue the West Coast swing with a stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The field is set to tackle 400 miles at the first traditional 1.5 mile oval of the season at 3:30 p.m. ET.