Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell secured his fourth victory of the ongoing NASCAR Cup Series season at the Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday. It secured his spot in the Round of 12 and kept his hopes of winning the championship alive.
Advertisement
The race wasn’t won easily by any means. In the final dash, he had to keep his lead safe from a fast-charging Brad Keselowski. The No. 20 Toyota driver managed to get the job done after some tense minutes and spoke to the press in the aftermath.
He admitted that he expected the RFK Racing co-owner to pull aggressive moves on him to grab the win for himself. While nothing of the extreme sort happened, Bell still had to survive immense pressure from the veteran driver. He detailed the same.
“To be honest, I expected it,” he said. “He ran me down from however long it was, three car lengths, four car lengths. Those last three laps, they were not my prettiest three laps I’ve run in my career, but it was good enough to get to the checkered flag first. I knew he was going to be really aggressive, really hungry.” RFK Racing hasn’t had the best time this year.
The team began things on a mellow note and has only just recently looked like an outfit capable of reaching Victory Lane. So, Bell’s fortitude to keep his wall standing against the opponent’s strong purpose ought to be admired. He continued to detail how he managed to keep control of his car despite being bumped by Keselowski as they were getting to the finish line.
He said, “I think I backed my corner up a little bit just trying to stay under the tires a little bit more. Those last three laps, I got the lead and then we were on the right side tires, and I guess I just had less grip than I was anticipating, and I could not get my car to stick around the bottom.” Staying under the tires and giving himself a bit of room had made all the difference.
Bump-and-run is a strategy that drivers employ frequently at the Bristol Motor Speedway, along with several other facilities. With the ton of experience that Keselowski has, it would have only been far too easy to do it had he been against a less-skilled driver. But Bell is one of the best on the field, and he proved the same by securing the golden bag.
