Christopher Bell penalized at the first playoff race in Atlanta as championship favorite Kyle Larson crashes out early

As per the latest developments, NASCAR has penalized Christopher Bell after the Joe Gibbs Racing driver pitted outside the designated pit box during the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With this, the JGR driver missed out on maximizing Kyle Larson's earlier crash.

This was not the first time this season that Bell suffered a technical penalty or issues, be it a pit road violation or engine breakdown. During stage two of the race, Bell arrived on the pit road for the stop but halted just outside the box, and as a result, incurred the penalty.

Jeff Gluck of The Athletic, from his official X account, reported the incident. He wrote on Christopher Bell:

"PENALTY: Christopher Bell, pitting outside the box."

Notably, the pit road witnessed another incident between Tyler Reddick and Carson Hocevar. The regular season champion made contact with Hocevar on the pit road and had to pit again on the next lap as the former incurred damage from the contact.

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Prior to Christopher Bell's incident, Kyle Larson crashed out in Stage 1

Kyle Larson speaks to media members during the NASCAR Playoffs Media Day at the Charlotte Convention Center (Credit: Imagn Images)

Kyle Larson was involved in a major crash at the opening playoffs race in Atlanta when he lost control of his Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and hit the barrier on his right. Following an inbound, he collected Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe and brought out a caution.

Both Larson and Briscoe were taken to the infield medical care center and were released following a thorough check-up. Despite the early setback, Kyle Larson remains 12 points above the elimination cutline.

Following the crash, Briscoe said to the media:

"I'm good. My private area hurt pretty bad at first, just when I hit it was a big hit, but, other than that, I’m totally good. My head, everything feels fine. I’m glad my ankles didn’t get messed up. The brake pedal and everything went through the floorboard, so I’m thankful that I’m alright, for sure."

The Stage 1 incident saw Larson lose ground to the championship's other top contenders as 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney won Stage 1, followed by Austin Cindric's Stage 2 victory.