With sixteen competitors lined up ahead of him, Christopher Bell could be forgiven for not being very confident about a top order finish. After all, getting past all of them over 297 laps was a huge ask. That was at the start at Darlington on Sunday. The finish, however, was a different story altogether.
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The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver almost managed to pull off a stupendous win, finishing third behind Denny Hamlin and William Byron. In fact, he had a pretty good shot at winning the race when fate intervened in the form of the final caution, with just four laps remaining.
Track position in the ensuing restart was all that mattered. But Bell could only manage to find a spot in the third row. Impressive as his eventual third-place finish was, had he started in the first or second row, it could have been even more impressive. What Bell still can’t come to terms with, though, is how important track position turned out to be throughout the race.
“I don’t know. It’s so confusing. My head’s just spinning because, literally, at the beginning of the race, I am getting passed for 25th, and then all of a sudden, I inherit track position, and I’m able to maintain my position. So, a very, very, very confusing day for us,” said Bell in the post-race interview.
But the No. 20 crew will not be tbe only crew putting their brains into overdrive trying to understand what transpired — William Byron’s #24 Chevrolet ZL1 crew at Hendrick Motorsport will be too.
Byron wishes he had a better restart as well
Willy B was easily the day’s most dominant driver, leading the first 243 laps before being overtaken by Hamlin.
The late-race caution, brought out when his teammate Kyle Larson spun, renewed hopes for Byron to retake the lead. However, he wasn’t able to get the best track position on the restart.
“You know, [it] took me a long time to get by him [Bell] and then had a great pit stop there at the very end and was able to line up on the second row. Just needed the front row to have a shot to win here,” said Byron.
“So, yeah. Just sucks. It’ll sting to be this close, but at the same time, it’s like, ‘Man, really proud of that effort by our whole team’,” he added.
The confidence and resolve in Byron’s words are evident within the Hendrick Motorsports team ranks as well. His crew chief, Rudy Fugle, expressed similar sentiments, regretting they couldn’t win.
The Lady in Black sure did cast some heavy spells this time. But the HMS crew is choosing to take the positives home from the weekend and focus on the next challenge.
