The NASCAR Cup Series’ debut in Iowa is right around the corner and as far as the bookies are concerned, Christopher Bell takes the cake in this one. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver qualified for the championship race last season and already has two wins to his name this season. Given how well he has run so far this year, a third race win on Sunday would not be a surprise at all.
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Bell sits atop the odds table with 4-1 odds in his favor and with good reason. The driver of the #20 car has two race wins at the Iowa Speedway in the Xfinity Series, the latest coming as recently as 2019. He is one win behind Brad Keselowski when it comes to the track record but the veteran last won at the venue several years ago.
However, he did not get off to a good start to the weekend as he blew a tire and crashed in practice, bringing out the red flag. Several drivers faced tire issues during the session and some believe that it could be the result of the recent repave the track has gone through. Ross Chastain was another driver whose tire issues brought out the red flag during practice.
Christopher Bell SMACKS THE WALL. 😳
📺 : #NASCAR Cup Series practice on USA Network pic.twitter.com/cPaW2uxJH7
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 14, 2024
Bell, however, is the clear favorite with Kyle Larson in second place with 11-2 odds. Denny Hamlin sits in P3 with 7-1 followed by defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney. Three-time winner at the track Brad Keselowski is in eighth with 12-1.
Christopher Bell is not a fan of Iowa’s recent repave
Another reason why Christopher Bell could be considered the favorite is that he took part in the tire test at the track in May. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing star was quite critical of the repave as he believes it has ruined the corner and will make only for single-groove racing. That means passing is going to be difficult come Sunday.
“I mean, it just completely ruined the corners, and it’s gonna make it a one-groove race track,” he said as per USA Today. “NASCAR was informing us that they were gonna do, they told us patch jobs. Then, repaving the bottom half of the corners is gonna make it where the top half is completely unusable.”
It will be interesting to see who is able to adapt to the new surface the quickest and is able to come out on top on Sunday.
