Christopher Bell takes the checkered flag on rain tires in the NASCAR Cup race at New Hampshire

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) — Christopher Bell raised a broom over his head and clutched a 24-pound lobster in victory lane all because he earned his third Cup win of the season in an outcome that would have been impossible before this NASCAR season.

Heck, it still looked pretty grim for most of Sunday at a rainy track.

Once the skies cleared, NASCAR busted out its latest creation it had saved for a rainy day — wet weather Goodyear tires that allowed the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to continue all the way to a thrilling end.

Bell mastered the Cup Series’ first race that ended with cars running on rain tires and pulled away after a 2-hour, 15-minute weather delay to beat darkness and the field and win Sunday at New Hampshire.

He also swept the weekend at New Hampshire following Saturday’s win in the Xfinity Series.

“Hopefully that was entertaining because it was something different, something new, and nobody knew what to expect and what to do,” Bell said. “The guys that figured it out the quickest were the most successful.”

On Friday, Bell spoiled the reveal that Chase Briscoe is joining him at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2025. Then he ruined Briscoe’s best shot at his first win of the season, holding him off over the final two laps of the overtime finish.

With darkness falling, Bell cruised past Josh Berry and Briscoe and remained the driver to beat at New Hampshire. He has four wins in the Xfinity Series at Loudon and won a Cup race at the track for a second time.

This time, he won with 86 laps raced on the new tires.

“It was dark. It was very, very dark. That was creeping up in a hurry to being too dark to race,” Bell said. “Certainly there were dry parts on the track, but there were still a lot of wet parts on the track, too. I can’t tell you how far away it was, but in my opinion I didn’t think it was ready for the dry tires yet.”

Bell was used to the rain — he won last month's rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 with 151 laps left in the race.

New Hampshire actually needed four extra laps. Briscoe was second and Berry third. Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher completed the top five.

“I think we could have probably started with the track a little bit wetter,” Briscoe said. “The beginning was pretty fun. We were all over the place. Five wide at times and slipping and sliding around.”

Even with the start of the race bumped up a half-hour, New Hampshire was a mess about from the moment the green flag was dropped. The race was marred by wrecks that wiped some of NASCAR’s biggest stars out of contention — all while the rest of the field tried to remain in contention and beat the looming rain that hovered over the entire weekend.

Tyler Reddick, who won at Talladega this season, held the lead when the race was red-flagged because of rain with 82 laps left in the scheduled 301-lap race.

Fans fled the grandstands and drivers went back to their motorhomes with seemingly no chance of a return as the gloomy weather worsened. New Hampshire and NASCAR waited out a tornado watch, nearby lightning strikes and a severe thunderstorm warning before it could resume the race after a delay of more than 2 hours — and after crew members swept standing water off pit road — and cars all hit the 1.058-mile track on new tires.

NASCAR let teams use wet-weather tires for the only second time in a points race this season. Teams had a maximum of four sets of wet-weather tires to race on the damp oval track. Teams had to take rain tires during pit stops and their position could not be affected.

They also had no choice of tire.

They were also no match for Bell in his No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Oh, as for that spoiler that Briscoe was headed to JGR, Gibbs said all was forgiven.

“Somebody asked me about that in the winner’s circle, and I said, ‘Christopher Bell can do anything he wants,'" Gibbs said with a laugh.

Kyle Busch’s dismal day ended with his Chevy getting towed off the track.

Busch hit the wall running the caution laps to end his race and continue what is shaping up as the worst season of his Cup career. Busch had already tagged the wall just past the halfway point and was running 24th late in the race when he was collected in another wreck. He finished 35th in yet another rough outing this season driving for Richard Childress Racing.

A two-time Cup champion with 231 NASCAR wins, Busch has yet to win a race this season driving for RCR. Busch raised some eyebrows last week when he suggested he would be open to returning to two of his former Cup teams, though he said he remained committed to RCR next season.

The 39-year-old Busch is on a 39-race winless drought. It’s the worst losing streak of his career,

Alex Bowman, winless this season for Hendrick Motorsports, ran into trouble when his No. 48 Chevrolet starting smoking. The hood went up on pit road and the car was soon pushed to the garage for repairs. He finished 36th.

Joey Logano locked up the left front tire on the No. 22 Ford off a restart on lap 194 and slammed into Chase Elliott. Martin Truex Jr., last season’s New Hampshire winner, spun and hit the wall after contact with Brad Keselowski with 91 laps left.

Bubba Wallace was knocked out of the race by Noah Gragson after the rain delay.

Daniel Suarez placed an American flag sticker on his Chevrolet days after he became a U.S. citizen. Suarez, a Monterrey, Mexico native, was one of 48 representing 28 countries sworn in this week at a ceremony in North Carolina.

NASCAR heads to Nashville Superspeedway next weekend. Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain held off Truex to win last season’s race.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Josh Berry brings his car into the pit for tires and fuel during during a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Christopher Bell hold up a broom after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Christopher Bell raises his arms as he faces the crowd after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Christopher Bell, top, celebrates with a crew members as he steps out of his car after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Christopher Bell, front left, holds up a lobster while standing with his wife Morgan, front right, as they celebrate after he won the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Chase Elliott steers his car out of Turn 4 during a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Ryan Blaney steers his car out of Turn 4 during a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Denny Hamlin steers his car out of Turn 4 during a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Drivers steer their cars along the back straight, from left, Christopher Bell (20), Tyler Reddick (45), Ryan Blaney (12), and Todd Gilliland (38) during a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Michael McDowell steers his car out of Turn 4 during a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Kyle Larson steers his car out of Turn 4 during a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Ryan Preece brings his car into the pit for tires and fuel during during a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

A member of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway pit lane fire crew uses a broom to remove water during a rain delay in a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at the race track in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Pit crew for Ty Gibbs (54) work on the car in pit lane during a rain delay in a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Chase Elliott (9) steers his car while leading a tight pack as they enter Turn 2 during a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Christopher Bell steers his car out of Turn 4 in a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, in Loudon, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iranians voted Friday in a snap election to replace the late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, with the race's sole reformist candidate vowing to seek “friendly relations” with the West in an effort to boost his campaign.

The remarks by heart surgeon Masoud Pezeshkian come after he and his allies were targeted by a veiled warning from the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over their outreach to the United States.

Pezeshkian's comments, made after he cast his ballot, appeared to be aimed at boost turnout as public apathy has grown pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East.

Voters face a choice between hard-line candidates and the little-known Pezeshkian who belongs to Iran's reformist movement that seeks to change its Shiite theocracy from within. As has been the case since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and those calling for radical change have been barred from the ballot while the vote itself will have no oversight from internationally recognized monitors.

The voting comes as wider tensions have gripped the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza, while militia groups that Tehran arms in the region — such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels — are engaged in the fighting and have escalated their attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium at near weapons-grade levels and maintains a stockpile large enough to build — should it choose to do so — several nuclear weapons.

While Iran's 85-year-old Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state, presidents can bend the country's policies toward confrontation or negotiation with the West. However, given the record-low turnout in recent elections, it remains unclear just how many Iranians will take part in Friday's poll.

Pezeshkian, who voted at a hospital near the capital, Tehran, appeared to have that in mind as he responded to a journalist's question about how Iran would interact with the West if he was president.

“God willing, we will try to have friendly relations with all countries except Israel," the 69-year-old candidate said. Israel, long Iran's regional archenemy, faces intense criticism across the Mideast over its grinding war in the Gaza Strip.

He also responded to a question about a renewed crackdown on women over the mandatory headscarf, or hijab, less than two years after the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, which sparked nationwide demonstrations and violent security force response.

“No inhuman or invasive behavior should be made against our girls, daughters and mothers,” he said.

A higher turnout could boost Pezeshkian’s chances, and the candidate may have been counting on social media to spread his remarks, as all television broadcasters in the country are state-controlled and run by hard-liners. But it remains unclear if he can gain the momentum needed to draw voters to the ballot. There have been calls for a boycott, including from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi.

Analysts broadly describe the race as a three-way contest. There are two hard-liners, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and the parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. A Shiite cleric, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, also has remained in the race despite polling poorly.

Pezeshkian has aligned himself with figures such as former President Hassan Rouhani under whose administration Tehran struck the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The voting began just after President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump concluded their first televised debate for the U.S. presidential election, during which Iran came up.

Trump described Iran as “broke” under his administration and highlighted his decision to launch a 2020 drone strike that killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani. That attack was part of a spiral of escalating tensions between America and Iran since Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. in 2018 from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, who is in charge of overseeing the election, announced all the polls had opened just at 8 a.m. local time. Khamenei cast one of the election's first votes, urging the public to turn out.

“People’s turnout with enthusiasm, and higher number of voters — this is a definite need for the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei said.

State television later broadcast images of polling places across the country with modest lines. Onlookers did not see significant lines at many polling centers in Tehran, reminiscent of the low turnout seen in Iran's recent parliamentary election in March.

More than 61 million Iranians over the age of 18 are eligible to vote, with about 18 million of them between 18 to 30.

Iranian law requires that a winner gets more than 50% of all votes cast. If that doesn't happen, the race's top two candidates will advance to a runoff a week later. There's been only one runoff presidential election in Iran's history, in 2005, when hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad bested former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

The 63-year-old Raisi died in the May 19 helicopter crash that also killed the country's foreign minister and others. He was seen as a protégé of Khamenei and a potential successor as supreme leader. Still, many knew him for his involvement in the mass executions that Iran conducted in 1988, and for his role in the bloody crackdowns on dissent that followed protests over the death of Amini, a young woman detained by police over allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory headscarf, or hijab.

Karimi reported from Tehran, Iran.

Iranian women wait in queue to cast their votes during the presidential election at a polling station inside the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians are voting in a presidential election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash in May along with the country's foreign minister and several other officials. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A woman casts her vote during the presidential election at a polling station inside the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A woman casts her ballot during the presidential election at a polling station in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians were voting Friday in a snap election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian citizens wait in queue to cast their votes during the presidential election at a polling station inside the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians are voting in a presidential election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash in May along with the country's foreign minister and several other officials. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iranian citizens wait in queue to cast their votes during the presidential election at a polling station inside the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians are voting in a presidential election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash in May along with the country's foreign minister and several other officials. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to media after casting his vote during the presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians were voting Friday in a snap election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A man casts his ballot during the presidential election as he holds a picture of the late President Ebrahim Raisi in a polling station, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians were voting Friday in a snap election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei leaves after casting his vote during the presidential election, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians were voting Friday in a snap election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Supporters of reformist candidate for Iran's presidential election Masoud Pezeshkian attend his campaign meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A supporter of Saeed Jalili, a candidate for the presidential election, holds up his poster during a campaign gathering in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A supporter of Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the most prominent hard-line candidate for the presidential election, holds up his poster in a campaign gathering in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits in a ceremony to mark the Shiite holiday of Eid al-Ghadir, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Iran's supreme leader issued a thinly veiled warning Tuesday to the sole reformist candidate in the country's upcoming presidential election, saying anyone who believes "all ways to progress" come from the United States shouldn't be supported. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Supporters of Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the most prominent hard-line candidate for the June 28 presidential election, attend his campaign gathering in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Qalibaf along with five other candidates is competing in the election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash with seven other officials in May. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei walks towards the ballot box to cast his vote during the presidential election, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians were voting Friday in a snap election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks after casting his vote during the presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians were voting Friday in a snap election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casts his ballot during the presidential election, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 28, 2024. Iranians were voting Friday in a snap election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)