Christopher Bell Keeps Undefeated Streak Alive at New Hampshire

Christopher Bell celebrating in Victory Lane after winning at New Hampshire. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)

LOUDON, N.H. — With the NASCAR Xfinity Series returning to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a new challenger would return for the full-time drivers of the series, Christopher Bell.

Bell has been dominant at New Hampshire, winning all three of his Xfinity Series starts and a Cup Series race at the track back in 2022.

After a long string of cautions the Sci Apps 200 was sent to overtime, where Bell would restart on the inside of the front run next to Cole Custer, the dominant car of the race.

Custer got a great restart on the outside and cleared Bell along with Sheldon Creed who stayed close behind Custer going onto the back straightaway. In Turn 4 Creed got to the inside of Custer and made slight contact, moving the No. 00 car up the track and slowing the momentum of both cars down allowing Bell to get a great run on the bottom.

This resulted in all three drivers being three wide as they took the white flag across the start/finish line. Going back into Turn 1 for the final time Creed cleared Custer on the top and was still ahead of Bell who was on the bottom and was looking like he would clear for the lead.

But Custer, who Creed got into in the prior corner got a run and just barely got into Creed, slowing the No. 18 car down slightly and allowing Bell to take the lead and go on to win the race.

“I was just really fortunate, that’s for sure,” Bell said in his post-race interview. “I feel so bad for Sheldon (Creed). He’s been really, really close to winning these things and today he did everything right to win that race.”

Christopher Bell pulling into Victory Lane after winning the Sci Apps 200. (Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)

“He restarted in the right lane and gave Cole (Custer) a good push. And coming to the white flag, he got Cole loose and that’s what opened the door for me,” said Bell. “Very fortunate to keep my undefeated streak alive. We got really lucky there.”

This win for Bell tied an Xfinity Series record for the most consecutive wins to start a career at a track with four. This tied AJ Allmendinger who has won all four of his starts at the Charlotte Roval.

The mentioned Creed finished second again, which ties the NASCAR Xfinity Series record for most runner-up finishes without a win at 10. Even with that, Creed was still encouraged with the speed his team has shown and is excited to be consistently battling for wins.

“I don’t know, running out of ways to lose them,” Creed said on if there was anything he could’ve done differently. “I  can think of a million things I could do, that is not a stat I wanted to tie, 10 seconds before a win. But overall, a great day and proud of everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. Been in the hunt the past four weeks so just going to keep working hard at it.”

Once again, the dominant driver of the race was Custer, who led 114 laps and earned 42 points. After four consecutive restarts in the final 22 laps, Custer wasn’t able to hold off the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates one last time and wound up finishing in third place.

“I would have done the same thing, you know, you’re racing for the win, it is what it is,” said Custer. “Man, it just stings. I felt like we had the best car of the day. And that’s not easy to do at these flat short tracks. Our guys brought such a fast car. But you get put in those late-race restarts, eventually, it’s probably not going to go your way. But I’m gonna re-live what I could have done,” Custer said.”

Christopher Bell celebrating on the front straightaway after winning the Sci Apps 200. Photo: Josh Jones | The Podium Finish)

Justin Allgaier came home in fourth place and rookie Carson Kvapil rounded out the top five in fifth with another impressive run.

Following the JR Motorsports duo, it was Ryan Sieg, Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst, Alex Bowman and Corey Heim rounding out the top 10.

Stage 1 Top 10 Results

1. Sam Mayer
2. Sammy Smith
3. Riley Herbst
4. AJ Allmendinger
5. Justin Allgaier
6. Alex Bowman
7. Carson Kvapil
8. Ryan Sieg
9. Jeb Burton
10. Justin Bonsignore

Stage 2 Top 10 Results

1. Christopher Bell
2. Justin Bonsignore
3. Cole Custer
4. Sheldon Creed
5. Chandler Smith
6. Justin Allgaier
7. Corey Heim
8. Brandon Jones
9. Austin Hill
10. Parker Kligerman

Sci Apps 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Results