Xfinity restart has a nice ring for Bell
LOUDON, N.H. — Christopher Bell took the lead from Brad Keselowski on a restart with 18 laps remaining and held on to take the checkered flag in yesterday’s Lakes Region 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Bell has won consecutive Xfinity series races by outlasting former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champs. Bell fended off a late challenge from Kyle Busch to win the Alsco 300 last weekend. Bell, who operates the No. 20 Rheem Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, moved into second place in the Xfinity driver standings with 644 points.
“Driving for Joe Gibbs Racing you have great equipment and it’s my job to make sure they win with me,” said Bell. “That’s the bottom line, I have just had great race cars.”
Keselowski won the pole position in the morning but began the race in 38th position because he showed up late for the driver-crew chief meeting. Keselowski was tardy because the final practice runs for today’s Foxwoods 301 ran late. Ryan Pease took the pole and finished third.
Keselowski weaved the No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford through the traffic and gained the lead from Bell on the 145th lap. But Keselowski took two tires on the final pit stop and that might have cost him the race.
Santos fires to victory
Bobby Santos of Franklin took the lead on the final lap and held off Chase Dowling at the finish line to capture the Whelen Modified Tour Eastern Propane & Oil 100.
Santos captured his third straight win and fourth overall on the Magic Mile. Santos, who completed his third race of the campaign, credited team work for his recent success in the signature race on the tour.
“I’m lucky the start-finish line was where it was,” said Santos. “We look forward to this race, we put a lot of effort into this race and the guys try really hard because we all enjoy coming here.”
The race was stagnated by seven cautions that had Santos playing catchup. He took several defensive positions off Turn 4 with Dowling and Monster Energy driver Ryan Newman probing for openings.
Dowling found a lane inside but his late push fell .014 of a second short. Newman, who won the pole in the No. 77 Chevrolet, was third.
“I had the catbird seat coming off (Turn) 4,” said Newman. “I thought they were going to lock each other up coming into checker but it was an awesome race.”
New start time today
Due to the probability of wet weather in the area, the start time for today’s Foxwoods 301 has been moved to 1 p.m., an hour earlier than scheduled.
The raceway’s entry gates will open at 9 a.m. and the prerace concert by Loverboy will begin at 11 and has been moved to the grass area adjacent to Turn 2. Kurt Busch will start from the pole with reigning champion Martin Truex Jr. on the outside.