Christopher Bell is one of the most credible title challengers in the NASCAR Cup Series today. But he was once a 21-year-old youngster looking for a solid chance to hitch a trustworthy ride in sprint car racing. When he eventually got that chance, it was in a way that fulfilled the most unimaginable dream that any race fan would have.
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Bell had already forayed into the NASCAR Truck Series and even secured two wins by 2016. But even with this promising showing, he couldn’t get a sprint car team owner to back him on a consistent basis. “Whenever I was trying to patch sprint car rides together… Like, I never really had a consistent ride. The most consistent ride I had was the Fox Brothers car,” he said last year.
Jumping into different cars continually was just beginning to wear him down when he got the incredible opportunity to drive for Tony Stewart Racing. It all happened sheerly by luck. The three-time Cup Series champion had been stopped by Keith Kunz Motorsports a couple of months ahead of the Kings Royal at the Eldora Speedway.
Bell had also been there, and he’d told Pete Willoughby, the team manager, of his desire to drive for Stewart at the Kings Royal. Willoughby spoke to Stewart, Stewart spoke to Jimmy Carr, who was the race director at Tony Stewart Racing, and just like that, Bell was made the driver of the No. 14 TSR car.
He recalled, “Getting in that TSR 14 was like my first opportunity in an A-level winged Sprint car. It was just so much fun, and obviously, Tony is an idol of mine. I think all of us probably dreamed of racing the TSR 14 or 15 back in the day. And yeah, we killed it, man.” At every track he went with Stewart’s car, he remembers being blazing fast.
