Bell’s only chance of advancing into the final round of the playoffs was in securing victory, and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver came in to pit for new tyres on the final caution, produced by Landon Cassill, and lined up sixth on the restart with 24 of 500 laps remaining.
This gave him the opportunity to pick his way past the front five, and methodically ran down and passed leader Chase Briscoe with four laps to go to reclaim the lead. He ultimately held off Kyle Larson by 0.869 seconds to claim victory at the 0.526mi “paperclip” oval.
The victory makes Bell one of the four drivers who will compete for the 2022 series title next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
“I can’t believe it, man,” Bell exclaimed after exiting his #20 Toyota.
“To come here in Martinsville, this place has always been so tough on me. Just pre-race looking up, seeing all the fans, this place is packed.
“I don’t even know what to say. Just thank you so much to everyone on this Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 team. They believed in me since day one.
“We went to Xfinity and did pretty well, struggled on the Cup side for the first little bit. They stayed with me. Very appreciative to be here. I don’t even know what to say.”
It was the second time in the playoffs Bell had produced a victory in a must-win situation. Having needed to finish first at the Charlotte Roval on 9 October to advance to the semi-final round, Bell duly obliged.
Joining Bell with a chance to win the title at Phoenix are Joey Logano – who was already locked in by virtue of a win at Las Vegas, Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain, who made a stunning last-ditch move riding the Turns 3 and 4 walls with the throttle wide open to capture fifth.
Chastain went from 10th to fifth in the final corner, and the swing in points proved enough to claim the last Championship 4 position by four points over Denny Hamlin, who finished sixth.
Hamlin looked to have done everything right to cement the last place in the playoffs final, winning Stages 1 and 2 over Elliott, but it was ultimately in vain as Chastain perfectly judged his late-race wall-ride to pip the #11 Toyota to the line.
Ryan Blaney took third behind Larson, as Brad Keselowski held onto fourth despite Chastain steaming towards them at a vast rate of knots on the final straight.
Logano and William Byron finished behind Hamlin, as Bubba Wallace was ninth on his return after serving a one-race ban for his clash with Larson at Las Vegas. Briscoe completed the top 10 over Elliott.