"It was wild" Christopher Bell extremely clear about 'amazing' Homestead-Miami race amid aggressive closing laps battle

Homestead-Miami Speedway witnessed three drivers leading laps as Sunday's Cup Series race neared its end. At the time, Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Tyler Reddick were in the mix. Following Reddick's win, Bell spoke with Frontstretch about how "wild" those last few laps were.

Bell, the defending champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway, also praised how the track is known for putting up great races every time. Reflecting on the last few laps of the Straight Talk Wireless 400, Bell said,

"It was wild. This place is awesome and it leads to some amazing races. Ultimately, probably the best guy won here. They got it done."

Rapid tire wear is one of the challenges of running on the 1.5-mile, oval-shaped intermediate speedway in Florida. Per reports, each team is allotted 10 sets of tires: nine for the race and one for qualifying.

Even then, the abrasive surface of the racetrack, backed by its progressive banking, makes it challenging for the teams to maintain tire health. Strategy is indeed the key at Homestead.

Reddick won the strategic battle and made the Championship 4 for the first time in his Cup Series career. Bell finished fourth while Hamlin delivered a P3 performance. While Bell is one of the top seeds ahead of next week's race at Martinsville, his teammate, Denny Hamlin, sits 18 points behind the cutline.

Christopher Bell lauds Tyler Reddick's run amid "death sentence"

Christopher Bell was impressed with how Tyler Reddick's team managed their tires before the final caution flag that came out with only seven laps to go. In the same interview with Frontstretch, Bell said,

"The tires degrade constantly, especially over these first five...three to five laps...one to five laps... so, he did really good."

Greg Stucker, Goodyear's Director of Racing, said in a recent statement (via Jayski),

"Tire wear is always the story at Homestead, and Cup teams will see more than two seconds of lap-time fall-off over the course of a run. At high wear tracks, drivers can impact their teams' fortunes by managing their tires."

Reddick did impact his team's fortune. He won the pole on Saturday and backed it with a win, his third this season. The Corning, California native, became the second driver in 22 years to win from the pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"I don’t know, we were backed in a corner and had no other choice," Reddick said during a post-race interview (via NASCAR). "I knew we were on a tire deficit, and here at Homestead, that’s a death sentence, but I didn’t care."

"We did what it took to win this race, and we’re fighting for a championship," the 28-year-old driver added.

The drivers will now prepare for next week's race at Martinsville Speedway. The field for Championship 4 will be decided following the checkered flag at the Virginian short track. Fans can watch the race live on NBC or listen to radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (November 3, 2 PM ET onwards).