Christopher Bell Soaks Up Loudon Win

Christopher Bell swept the NASCAR New Hampshire race weekend after winning the USA Today 301 in Loudon, New Hampshire, on Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)

LOUDON, N.H. — Christopher Bell did not need an umbrella to soak up his sweep of the Loudon race weekend. Instead, he relied on his adept abilities and talents to adopt to the damp conditions to win Sunday’s USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

A month ago, Bell turned his fortunes around when he won the rain shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Along the way, the 29-year-old Norman, Oklahoma, native was a contender at World Wide Technology Raceway before engine issues derailed his bid at a potential victory.

Through the feast or famine moments for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, he has proven himself worthy of battling for his third Championship 4 appearance. Heading into weekend at the 1.058-mile flat track, Bell was one of the clear pre-race favorties.

Even when Bell may have leaked news about his new teammate ahead of the 2025 season, he was focused all weekend long. Starting fourth due to the metric utilized when rain cancelled Saturday’s qualifying session, Bell worked his way toward the lead by Lap 42, passing polesitter Chase Elliott.

For the next 84 laps, Bell held a pretty wheel at “The Magic Mile,” winning Stage 1 and leading a portion of Stage 2. Relegated to a fourth place finish, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., Bell’s Gibbs teammates, made their presence known toward the top two.

Once Stage 3 was underway, the initial mindset was on jockeying for maximum position in the likelihood of severe weather shortening the race. For a while, that prevailing thought nearly proved successful when Tyler Reddick took the lead from Bell on Lap 189.

On Lap 217, a backstretch incident involving Kyle Busch led to a red flag for rain that lasted two hours, 14 minutes and 49 seconds. Reddick and his No. 45 hoped for the best with the race being called early.

Mother Nature cooperated in terms of getting to the original race distance and then some. NASCAR allowed teams to change from slick to wet weather tires in a noncompetitive pit stop, meaning that positions would not change.

Initially, once the red flag was lifted and the caution flag was waved once more, Busch wrecked in Turn 4, ending his day frustratingly early.

Eventually, the caution period led to a Lap 229 restart led by Reddick. However, it did not take long for Bell to march his way toward the front. By Lap 242, Bell worked his way back into the lead, getting past Reddick.

There was plentiful action behind Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE. Namely, a Lap 266 crash in Turn 1 involving Bubba Wallace, Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon and Erik Jones had some potential Playoff implications, particularly for Wallace, who was briefly ahead of Joey Logano for the 16th and final postseason spot.

With Wallace’s afternoon ending early, Logano, who placed second and third in Stages 1 and 2, finished two spots ahead of the Mobile, Alabama, native in the race.

Meanwhile, Bell’s challengers, mainly Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, Josh Berry and Chase Briscoe gave their best shots to take the lead. Regardless, Bell was simply in command of the race.

At the line, Bell bested Briscoe by 1.104 seconds, winning the first Cup race ran in the wet weather package at the Granite State track. Following some customary burnouts, Bell shared his thoughts on his recent resurgence.

“Well, we’re certainly on our way,” Bell said. “What sucks is looking back at the races that have slipped away so far in this year. You look at COTA. You look at Richmond. I mean, those are the two that really come to mind. It’s pretty easy to start stacking the wins up, right?

“So it’s been a fun ride, and I feel like we’re close to hitting our stride. I’m excited about what’s to come. That’s for sure.”

The versatile Bell was committed to pushing his car to the limit in the damp conditions. The reward outweighed the risk of crunching up his machine as many of his competitors did when racing in the wets.

“I think it was Lap 2 on the rain tires,” Bell said. So Lap 1, I went up high. I felt like there was going to be more grip up there, and there was. I was able to pass a bunch of guys. Then I got a little bit too overconfident into three, and I got in a death slide and almost slid into the wall.

“I mean, I don’t know what to say other than it’s just a knife’s edge. You’re going to keep trying, pushing your entries, pushing your mid-corner speeds, pushing your exits until you find out the limit and what’s too much. Yeah, it was just all about being cautious and trying to creep up to your limits.”

Josh Berry (No. 4) and Chase Briscoe (No. 14) search for the optimum groove during the USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, on Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)

Briscoe captured a much needed runner-up result in a weekend that will remembered for Bell’s memorable media slip-of-the-tongue on Friday and the damp conditions on Sunday. More importantly, Briscoe looked toward past experiences to find his comfort zone at Loudon.

“I always joke that this is one of my worst race tracks so to run second is kind of surprising to be honest with you,” Briscoe said. “The rain definitely helped us. If it wasn’t for the rain we were going to literally run 24th probably.

“We had a couple of good restarts and the guys did a good job of understanding the rain balance. I think we learned a lot when we did it at Richmond. We needed a good turnaround day and it definitely didn’t start that way but I am glad that it ended up that way, for sure.”

Berry rounded out the podium finishers, continuing his strong performances for a second consecutive week. Like Bell and Briscoe, Berry enjoyed racing in the damp conditions.

“We were 20th when it was raining and then we threw some rain tires on it and did what I knew we could do and moved all the way up there,” Berry said. “That was a lot of fun, honestly. I am going to think back to a million things I could have done differently there but the bottom was just so hard to get going through one and two.

“I feel like if I could have just cleared the 14, I was kind of inching in on Bell before the final caution. I just got a little loose off of two and that let Chase get back to my left rear and we got stuck racing each other. I don’t know.”

For Bell’s team owner, Joe Gibbs, he gave his flowers to NASCAR on making the concerted effort to have the race finish at least towards it advertised distance.

“I think NASCAR made a lot of big decision there, and I think they were on the right side,” Gibbs said. “I really do. I think the way they handled everything, including those pit stops that were noncompetitive.”

Christopher Bell raises his arms in victory after winning the USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, on Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)

For a driver that likes to race on the edge, Bell explained why he enjoyed the damp conditions from his driver’s seat perspective.

“Yeah, they’re just a lot of fun,” Bell said. “What we’ve lost in the Next Gen car of being able to slide the car around and run the car really loose, yeah, I can’t describe it better than that, but we get that back on the rain tires.

“Whenever the track is damp, you’re able to slide the car around more and drive it hanging out more, drive it on the right rear more. It’s a lot of fun doing that, for sure.”

For what it is worth, Gibbs found some light in Bell’s unintended gaffe particularly as his driver won Saturday’s SciApps 200 and Sunday’s USA Today 301 at New Hampshire.

“Somebody asked me that in the winner’s circle, and I said, Christopher Bell can do anything he wants,” Gibbs said to the laughter of those attending the post-race conference.

Stage 1 Top 10 Finishers

1. Christopher Bell
2. Joey Logano
3. Chase Elliott
4. Ryan Blaney
5. Josh Berry (R)
6. Martin Truex Jr.
7. Denny Hamlin
8. Ross Chastain
9. Tyler Reddick
10. Alex Bowman

Stage 2 Top 10 Finishers

1. Denny Hamlin
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Joey Logano
4. Christopher Bell
5. Ryan Blaney
6. Todd Gilliland
7. Kyle Larson
8. Josh Berry (R)
9. Chase Elliott
10. Ross Chastain

USA Today 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Race Results