Christopher Bell motors down the frontstretch. (Photo: John Arndt | The Podium Finish)
FORT WORTH, Texas – Over two days at Texas Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell spun during practice, suffered another miscue on pit road and spent most of the race’s 267 laps outside of the top 10.
Despite all of this, Bell drove his Interstate Batteries Toyota to a fourth-place finish in the Autotrader Echo Park Automotive 400.
After a 34th-place finish in last year’s race, the Norman, OK, native’s strong finish has him 20 points above the cutoff line.
“My race was pretty disappointing. We got a pretty good finish out of it, but the performance was not there,” Bell said after the race. “I guess we got away with one.”
After snapping a three-race pole streak, Bell ran solidly in the back of the top 10 during the first run before coming in for his first pit stop.
On the pit stop, Bell’s crew, which has had several issues ever since swapping with Ty Gibbs, had an issue on the left side, which cost Bell several spots. Despite not having the speed to march back through the field, Bell caught a stroke of luck when Kyle Busch wrecked just before the end of the stage.
Bell, along with multiple others, stayed out for the one-lap dash to the stage end. He ended up third to score eight much-needed points.
From that point, Bell was mostly a non-factor. His average running position during the day was 17th and, had it not been for issues for Busch and Martin Truex Jr., he may have found himself in another hole.
However, Bell and Adam Stevens have proven that they can find a way when things aren’t going their way. When the caution fell on Lap 244, the 20 machine stayed out along with 14 others.
Through two crashes, including Kyle Larson battling for the lead underneath Bubba Wallace, Bell found himself in fourth when the checkered flag fell, trailing race winner William Byron, Ross Chastain and Wallace.
Through all the ups and downs of the race, Bell walked away with the third-most points of anyone.
“We didn’t have the pace to run fourth for sure,” Bell explained. “The restarts worked out in our favor, and we were able to sneak by on the bottom and get a good finish out of it. This is one of those days that I’m going to be really, really happy on Wednesday or Thursday, but right now, I’m pretty disappointed because the performance wasn’t there. I’ve got to figure out what I was missing in the Interstate Batteries Camry and produce a lap time that the other guys could.”
Bell now has eight top-fives and 16 top-10s on the 2023 season. Sunday was the first race since Daytona where he did not lead a lap.
Whereas Bell was in a hole last year in the second round, Bell has a 20-point cushion ahead of Talladega, where he ran 8th in April and the Charlotte Roval which he won last year.
