Christopher Bell overcomes early spin to win Truck race at Kentucky
Two early accidents in the first third of the Buckle Up in Your Truck 225 and a three-hour rain delay were not enough to stop Christopher Bell from fending off Brandon Jones for his third Camping World Truck Series win of the season and fifth career victory.
Bell, who began the race in behind polesitter Johnny Sauter, became sandwiched between two other cars when his lane went three-wide on the first lap after the first caution of the race. After some contact, Bell ended up losing control of his truck and spinning out. However, Bell and his team with Kyle Busch Motorsports were able to get the truck back on the track. Bell would find himself involved in another accident on lap 43, this time with Stage 1 winner Ben Rhodes.
“The race was extremely up-and-down,” Bell said. “With the repave and the green racetrack at the beginning, I think everybody didn’t know what to expect, but the track had a lot of grip right off the bat and it was really fast, a lot of draft runs and a lot of dirty air down in turns 3 and 4. It was pretty tough to pass.”
Rhodes, who drives No. 27, won the first stage with a great restart after the first caution, but suffered an accident in Turn 3 of Lap 43. With tight lanes after the third caution, Bell and Rhodes had light contact that Rhodes was unable to manage and begun to spin out. During the spin, his teammate, Grant Enfinger in the No. 98, slammed into his rear disabling both vehicles for the rest of the race. Rhodes, a Louisville native, secured his first stage win of the season but was denied his first race win at his hometown track.
Bell led 54 laps, but the last 10 were the most stressful as Jones, who had been penalized for a restart violation earlier in the race, had secured his position as the second-place racer and he, along with Bell, put significant distance between themselves and the rest of the field.
“It’s very nerve-wracking and it’s a lot of stress,” Bell said. “But, the thing that I kept going back to was that I just kept reminding myself that whenever I was in that position, I couldn’t pass them. Back at the beginning of the race when I was third, I couldn’t pass for second. Whenever I lost the lead, I couldn’t pass the leader. He’d be able to get to me, but I knew that getting to me and passing me would be two different things.”
The distance between the two of them, however, was almost nonexistent as the lead rarely got larger than two-tenths of a second. Bell ended up edging out Jones for the victory by a margin of 0.187 seconds.
“I was trying to play mind games with him,” Jones said. “But, I know they were in his ear telling him where I was running at and having him try and make me follow him throughout the straightaways and stuff trying to slow my runs down. Eventually, I started holding my line and he’s still trying to move around a little bit and mess us up. It was all fun and games, for sure, I enjoyed it.”
Next to Rhodes’s first stage win, Noah Gragson, Bell’s teammate, secured his first stage win of the year with his No. 18 truck being closely followed by his boss, Kyle Busch, in the No. 46. Busch helped spur Gragson to his first stage win of the season with a push on the restart after the fourth caution.
Bell was second in points behind Sauter before the race and leads all CWTS drivers with three wins. The race weekend at Kentucky Speedway continues Friday with the Alsco 300 as part of the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Saturday with the Quaker State 400 as part of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
FULL RESULTS: Buckle Up In Your Truck 225
1. (2) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 150 laps, 0 rating, 45 points.
2. (16) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 150, 0, 0.
3. (10) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 150, 0, 47.
4. (13) Austin Cindric, Ford, 150, 0, 37.
5. (11) Noah Gragson, Toyota, 150, 0, 44.
6. (27) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 150, 0, 0.
7. (30) Parker Kligerman, Toyota, 150, 0, 30.
8. (4) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 150, 0, 37.
9. (1) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 150, 0, 31.
10. (18) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 150, 0, 28.
11. (3) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 150, 0, 33.
12. (29) Stewart Friesen, Chevrolet, 150, 0, 25.
13. (15) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 150, 0, 0.
14. (20) Regan Smith, Ford, 150, 0, 23.
15. (14) Cody Coughlin, Toyota, 150, 0, 22.
16. (6) Myatt Snider, Toyota, 149, 0, 27.
17. (25) JJ Yeley, Chevrolet, 149, 0, 0.
18. (9) John Hunter Nemechek, Chevrolet, 148, 0, 26.
19. (21) Wendell Chavous, Chevrolet, 145, 0, 18.
20. (23) Josh Reaume, Chevrolet, 144, 0, 17.
21. (22) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 142, 0, 16.
22. (32) Austin Wayne Self, Toyota, 130, 0, 15.
23. (8) Ryan Truex, Toyota, accident, 114, 0, 23.
24. (12) Kaz Grala, Chevrolet, accident, 114, 0, 19.
25. (24) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, suspension, 62, 0, 12.
26. (19) T.J. Bell, Chevrolet, accident, 54, 0, 11.
27. (5) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, accident, 41, 0, 20.
28. (7) Grant Enfinger, Toyota, accident, 41, 0, 16.
29. (28) Matt Mills, Chevrolet, accident, 20, 0, 8.
30. (26) Camden Murphy, Chevrolet, electrical, 10, 0, 7.
31. (31) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet, overheating, 1, 0, 0.
32. (17) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, engine, 0, 0, 5.
Source:- https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nascar/2017/07/07/bell-overcomes-spin-to-win-nascar-truck-race-at-kentucky/103491008/
