Christopher Bell experienced strong camaraderie with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. during the latest Cup Series in Gateway. Bell had won the first two stages of the race and was battling defending champion Ryan Blaney for the lead with 18 laps to go when his engine began failing him. As he started dropping multiple spots, Truex Jr. became a knight in shining armor.
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The veteran driver put his #19 Toyota Camry XSE behind Bell’s car and pushed him on the straightaways helping tackle the loss of power and garner speed. Bell was able to use the helping hand and secure seventh place, which could’ve easily ended up being far worse. He thanked Truex Jr. on the pit road, “I think he’s probably saved us a top 10 out of the day. Martin is a standup guy.”
We all deserve a teammate like @MartinTruex_Jr. pic.twitter.com/aZQQFwEYt3
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 3, 2024
Bell was particularly gratified because the aid came at a moment when he’d lost all hope of a good finish. Once he realized that his engine had betrayed him he tried managing the damage through strategic gear shift timings as per the instructions of his crew chief, Adam Stevens. Not benefitting a lot, he’d lamented on the radio, “I’m blowing up. It’s game over.”
The disappointment of having a fast car that helped him lead 80 laps failing at the most crucial moment of the race was evident from his words post-race. “You don’t get cars like that often,” he said. “When you can’t take advantage of it, that’s disappointing.” Bell now sits 11th in the points table having already secured his spot in the upcoming 2024 playoffs.
Christopher Bell is left clueless about what caused the failure of his engine
Had Bell won on Sunday, he would finally have managed consecutive victories in the Cup Series for the first time in his career. The achievement seemed all the more likely when his crew chief pitted him in the final cycle for fresh tires. Talking after the race about what happened in the aftermath, Bell reiterated that he had no idea what made his car lose power.
He said, “Just something in the engine department let go. I’m surprised that it hung on for those last [19] laps or whatever.” Stevens was left equally out of the blue. “All I can tell you is it lost power with about 20 or 25 laps to go, dramatically,” he noted. “I didn’t see any smoke coming out of the pipes, so I don’t know if we had an internal issue or an ignition issue or what. There’s just no way to tell right now.”
