COTA winner Christopher Bell comes clean on his ‘cautious’ conduct around former teammate Kyle Busch: “We know what happened last year”

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell secured his second consecutive win in the 2025 Cup Series season. He won the Circuit of the Americas race on March 2, 2025, and expressed his views on cleanly passing his former teammate Kyle Busch at turn one.

Last year, Bell and Busch had a heated confrontation after wrapping up the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. Just like Ross Chastain made contact with Chase Elliott and spun him out, facing the wrong way, Bell did a similar thing with Busch in turn one.

However, in the 2025 season, things were completely different. During a post-race interview, FOX reporter Josh Sims questioned Christopher Bell about the difference between last year's run and this year's run. Bell stated:

"That was almost a déjà vu last year. I had the track position that time, and man, these road course races are just so much fun, and whenever Kyle was leading, I was just trying to be so cautious. Obviously, we know what happened last year. I didn't want that happen. I wanted to pass him clean." [00:08 onwards]

"And he was just doing such a good job at running his race, and he could get off the corners, just good enough that I couldn't get inside of him. But there I started, you know, kicking a nose, and he bobbled and allowed me to get out front. And whatever I did, I'm like, okay, just don't beat yourself. And those are about the five or six sloppiest laps I've ever run," he added.

Christopher Bell qualified 19th for the race and built his way up to the victory. He also secured a top-ten finish in stage two of the race, and after finishing as the runner-up last year, he took home the win this year. Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, who won last year's race, came in second place in the 2025 season.

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Christopher Bell opened up about his "biggest area of issues" at COTA after the revamp

During the pre-race media day on Saturday, March 1, 2025, prior to the practice session, NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell opened up about his fear at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

Bell has been competing on the track since 2021 and has secured two top-five finishes at the Austin, Texas-based track. However, this year the track only features a 2.3-mile length with 20 turns, testing drivers' ability.

The interview questioned Christopher Bell about his biggest fear at COTA. Bell pointed out that he always found turn one troublesome, and even last year he spun Kyle Busch at the biggest brake zone.

"Turn 1, with it being the biggest brake zone, I think that's going to be the biggest area for issues. It seems like that got cleaned up a lot with the updated restart zone. I'm a fan of that, and hopefully it allows more of the best cars to race for the win," he added. (via SpeedwayDigest.com)

After Bell's win, Kyle Busch finished the 95-lap race in fifth place, and pole sitter 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick wrapped up the race in third place.