NASCAR Cup Series: Who won the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix?

After Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell scored his second straight win of the season at COTA, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series made the trip to Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, for the running of the Shriners Children's 500. It was the fourth race of the season and only the second points-paying race to feature Goodyear's softer option tire, which was implemented as a way to increase strategy and make for a more competitive race.

After two early cautions to begin the race, Team Penske's Joey Logano — who was the leader at the time — was penalized for going below the yellow line on the restart. RFK Racing's Ryan Preece was the first driver to use the option tires in the race and raced his way up to third, although he was unable to reel in Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, who held the top spot the rest of the way in the opening 60 laps to win Stage 1.

Team Penske's Austin Cindric — one of several drivers to use the option tires in Stage 2 — took full advantage by going from 14th on a Lap 72 restart to the race lead on Lap 89. Lap 99 saw the race's biggest incident with Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, Noah Gragson, Brad Keselowski, Todd Gilliland, Riley Herbst, Cole Custer, Alex Bowman and Shane van Gisbergen involved in some capacity. The race featured five cautions in the first 100 laps, which was the most in a Cup Series race at Phoenix since 2011. Bell would go on to score the stage win.

After some late cautions for Bubba Wallace blowing a tire, Ryan Blaney blowing an engine and Ty Gibbs suffering a possible brake rotor issue — which sent the race to a two-lap sprint to the finish — the stage was set for another dramatic finish in the Cup Series.

NASCAR Cup Series: Who won the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix?

Despite getting some pressure from Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson, it ultimately came down to Bell and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin. With the two side-by-side exiting Turn 4, Bell was able to inch ahead of his teammate to get his third consecutive win in the season's first four races. It was the second-closest Cup Series finish at Phoenix in the track's history.

Full Shriners Children's 500 finishing order and points results

The NASCAR Cup Series will shift its focus to 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada, for the running of the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube on Sunday, March 16 (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.