Christopher Bell during pre-race ceremonies at Martinsville Speedway for the Cookout 400. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
RIDGEWAY, Va. — After starting on pole for Sunday afternoon’s race, Christopher Bell finished in second place in the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway.
Bell led 25 laps during the race but did not have a car with winning pace for the majority of it, especially after losing the lead to Chase Elliott early on during Stage 1.
However, late in the race, Bell found himself back inside the top five battling for the win. The final stint of the race restarted on Lap 326, with Bell in the second position and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin leading the race.
Once the race went back green, Bell was able to clear Bubba Wallace, who slotted in line in the third position and began to hunt down Hamlin for the lead. Early on in the run, Bell was able to keep pace, but by Lap 379, Hamlin had increased his lead to over a second, similar to what he did to Elliott in an earlier part of the race on the long run.
Christopher Bell (No. 20) racing during the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway en route to a second-place finish. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
As Hamlin cruised to the victory, Bell began falling back into the clutches of Wallace and Elliott but was ultimately able to fend the two drivers off and cross the start/finish line in the second position.
“We were back and forth on balance a little bit and I asked to be freer throughout the whole race and then that last run, I just went a little bit too loose and lost my drive off,” Bell said following the race. “It was a great weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing, showed a lot of pace, all four of the cars were really good. Really happy to kind of get back up front, the last two weeks have been rough for this (No.) 20 team.”
The last two weeks Bell referred to were a 12th-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a 29th-place finish at Homestead-Miami. On the surface, those finishes might not seem too bad overall, but after winning three of the first four races, all of which happened consecutively, anything that is not a top five is unfamiliar territory for the No. 20 team this season.
Martinsville Speedway is also an important track later in the season, as it is the Round of 8 elimination race, a race in which Bell saw his championship hopes dashed a season ago. So, even though second was not the goal going into today, Bell believed that he and his team learned a lot for when the series comes back later this season, despite the rough final run of the race.
Christopher Bell wrapping the bottom lane at Martinsville Speedway during the Cook Out 400. (Photo: Sydney Redden | The Podium Finish)
“I felt really bad at the end of the run there. (I was) obviously falling pretty far back behind Denny (Hamlin),” he said. “I think qualifying really good was a big part of our success this weekend. Hopefully, we can come back a little better in the fall and have a nice solid day like today.”
Sometimes a solid, well-executed day is all you need to have a good run in the NASCAR Cup Series, especially at a track like Martinsville, which saw its fair share of chaos this weekend. Even though the result was not a win, Bell still felt good about his team’s performance en route to the second-place finish and will look to carry the speed over to next weekend at Darlington Raceway.
“Everyone executed really well today,” said Bell. “Thank you to my pit crew, they did a great job. We did the details right, and we came home second.”
