Bell’s victory marked the first time in two years that a state has produced a first-time winner in NASCAR Cup Series.
Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing won the second first-time winner in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season by winning the O’Reilly Auto Parts 253 on Sunday at the Daytona International Speedway road course. This is the first time this has happened since the sport’s second season in 1950.
He became the 197th driver to win a Cup Series race in the process. Michael McDowell was the 196th driver, having won the Daytona 500 on the track’s oval the week before in his 358th career start. The 2021 season will be the sixth in a row with at least two new winners.
Bell’s victory, which came in his 38th career start, was historic in that it made him the first Oklahoman to win a Cup Series race.
The 26-year-old Norman native earned Oklahoma the 35th state to produce a Cup Series race winner.
The last time a state was removed from this list was in June of 2019, when Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports won at Chicagoland Speedway. He is from from Tucson, Arizona, and has since won his second career race at Auto Club Speedway.
McDowell is also from Arizona, so the Grand Canyon State would have been the 34th state to have a Cup Series race winner prior to Oklahoma.
Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming are the only states without a Cup Series race winner.
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