Christopher Bell’s YellaWood 500 outing began on a sour note as he was forced to start from the back due to an unapproved adjustment stemming from a missing bolt in the rear window. Despite initially qualifying 21st and entering Talladega with a 28-point buffer above the cutline, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver managed to claw his way to 5th by the end of Stage 1 but slipped to 28th in Stage 2.
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The race’s climax came with a massive pile-up on Lap 185, just five laps shy of the finish, ensnaring Bell in the chaos. The incident, ignited by Brad Keselowski’s gentle nudge that sent Austin Cindric spinning, involved 28 drivers, including Bell’s #20, prompting officials to stop the race and wave the red flag.
Once the dust settled and the cars regrouped to the start/finish line, the lineup saw Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in the lead, followed by Brad Keselowski in second, William Byron in third, Kyle Larson fourth, Kyle Busch fifth, and Bell rounding out the top six.
The #20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver held his ground until the checkered flag waved, reflecting on his fortune to have skirted the major crash in the closing laps. He remarked, “Well, I mean let’s be honest today it was just all about being blessed and making it through that wreck. So we did some things really really good today.”
“Stage 1 was awesome — to be able to make our way from the back to the front, get some stage points. Stage 2 was about opposite of awesome and we lost the pack and didn’t score any points there. But stage 3- we were not really in position and then fortunately we were able to make it through. And that’s what it’s all about and we got a lot of points out of it,” he continued.
Currently, Bell and Co. are comfortably perched at P2 in the playoff standings, enjoying a 57-point lead over the cutline.
Bell shares his thoughts on the upcoming race at Charlotte Roval
When queried about his approach for the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course event, where the elimination race of the Round of 12 is scheduled, Bell expressed his relief at having a solid points buffer.
He stated, “I mean I’m excited about it now with the points that we have it’s going to allow us to be really aggressive on the strategy side, to go all out for a race win and you know it’s never fun whenever you go into a road course having to worry about points because the strategy is so dictated by flipping the stages to keep your track position.”
He also recognized his favorable positioning in the standings and appeared quite optimistic about leveraging his opportunity to clinch the race victory come Sunday. However, the seemingly unpredictable nature of the Roval is sure to kick up some competition among the drivers who are currently in the elimination zone.
