Did NASCAR get the Atlanta Cup race results wrong?

A photo appears to show Christopher Bell finishing in second place, not third, in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Last March, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell finished the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in second place.

But he was penalized for going below the double white line on the backstretch on the final lap and was therefore scored as the 23rd and final car on the lead lap.

This year, he finished in third place and kept his position. However, photos from the photo finish between him and RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski for second appear to indicate that, for the second year in a row, Bell might have finished in second but not gotten credit for it.

Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass reported that NASCAR uses alternate cameras to determine who is ahead, in the event of a close call, and in this instance, they determined that it was Keselowski.

You make the call, NASCAR fans. Was Christopher Bell ahead of Brad Keselowski?

While there was no review and Bell was officially scored 0.001 seconds (one one-thousandth of a second) behind Keselowski for second place, and images can most assuredly be deceiving sometimes, these particular images will, at the very least, cause some questions to be asked about the accuracy of NASCAR’s electronic scoring system.

Officially, Keselowski was scored in second place, marking his best finish since joining RFK Racing as not only a driver but as a co-owner of the organization last year. Former Team Penske teammate Joey Logano won the race to take the lead of the point standings for the second time in five races this year, though his playoff spot hasn’t officially been secured.

Interestingly, had Bell been scored in second place, he would be tied for the points lead with Logano, so this call, at least at the moment, is significant in more ways than one. Keselowski, meanwhile, sits in fifth in the standings and would be in fifth even if he had been scored in third instead of second on Sunday. He is the only driver to lead laps in every race so far this year.

Keselowski went on to have an interesting encounter with another Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Denny Hamlin, moments after the race as well.

The season’s sixth race is the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place this Sunday, March 26 at Circuit of the Americas. Fox is set to broadcast the race live beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV now and don’t miss it!