Norman, Oklahoma's Christopher Bell picked up his 11th NASCAR Cup Series win at Circuit of the Americas in a finish akin 2024. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver charged through the field late and held defending COTA winner William Byron at bay.

“That was almost deja vu of last year,” Bell said to Josh Sims of FOX Sports. After he finished second to Byron the year prior, Bell cited track position as the difference maker in this victory.

The team has already capitalized on tracks where Bell performed well last season like COTA. Bell said, “We definitely had this one circled and I’m ready to keep adding to it.”

The final stage played out similarly to 2024, with Bell, Busch, Byron and Tyler Reddick all in contention. Busch, who led 42 laps, initially appeared to have the race winning strategy.

He led by 2.6 seconds on lap 79 when his RCR teammate Austin Dillion spun off course and got trapped in the gravel. A caution flew and a restart with 13 to go ensured, but Bell had fresh tires.

Bell pounced, but was determined to race fair after spinning out Busch late in the 2024 race. “I wanted to pass him clean,” Bell said, “He [Busch] bobbled and allowed me to get out front.”

Busch wound up short of snapping a 60 race winless streak after leading the most laps. Despite fading to fifth by the finish, he was optimistic with the speed and grit that the team showed.

“We're gonna outwork anybody there is to work,” Busch said. He also gave credit to Bell for a fair race and said, “He did a great job working me over and doing it the right way.”

Once Bell passed Busch, Byron moved into second place with Reddick lurking in third. They pushed their cars to the limit in the closing laps and finished within half a second of each other.

“It was really close,” Byron said to FOX Sports reporter Regan Smith. “I just couldn’t ever get beside him and we’ve always raced really well together, so I didn't want to move him blatantly.”

After the checkered, Byron moved past 2023 champion Ryan Blaney in the standings by two points. Reddick and Bell climbed to third and fourth in points respectively with Busch in ninth.

The Cup Series will roll into the desert for a two week trip to the West Coast. The first stop will be here in Phoenix, then teams will travel to the Entertainment Capital of the World; Las Vegas.

Next Sunday Phoenix Raceway hosts its first of two NASCAR races. The Shriners Children's 500 takes place at 3:30 p.m. ET with live coverage on FS1 and Bell as the defending race winner.