Asterisk Mark Report – Phoenix #2 2023

Christopher Bell – Christopher Bell had a hot rod last fall at Phoenix when he was up for title contention but unfortunately, Bell’s race wasn’t incident free and he finished an asterisk mark 36th. In the race, Bell started 13th, finished 9th in Stage #1, was up to 5th on lap 102 but then on lap 110 while running in 5th, Bell had a brake failure and slammed into the wall hard.

Kyle Busch – At Phoenix, Kyle Busch has finished in either 7th or 8th in 4 of the last 5 races, but last fall was the exception, and he finished 25th. On lap 275 while running in 12th, Busch spun which brought out the final caution and it dropped him off the lead lap back into the mid 20’s. If Busch’s race would’ve been incident free, I think he was likely poised to finish around the low double-digits.

Brad Keselowski – Brad Keselowski had a pair of asterisk mark results at Phoenix in 2023. Last fall, Keselowski was a top ten contender but finished an asterisk mark 15th. In the race, Keselowski started in the rear of the field (driver change), was up to 18th at the end of Stage #1, finished 9th in Stage #2, was in 10th with 5 to go but then in the closing laps, Keselowski was reported to have gotten into the wall which had him fading to close out the race.