Bell gets Xfinity victory; Gragson second

RICHMOND, Va. — Christopher Bell grabbed the lead from Noah Gragson shortly after a restart to begin the final stage, then held off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate’s late challenge to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Richmond Raceway on Friday night.

Bell led by nearly 0.6 second at one point during the final stage, then had Gragson close to his rear bumper with about 10 laps to go. But just as quickly as Gragson mounted a challenge in his first career start, Bell again pulled away for his second career victory in the series.

“That was pretty special there,” Bell said. “I had to work for it.”

At the end, Bell said, he could feel his car fading and just ran as hard as he could and hoped for the best.

“I think the word teammate kind of goes out the window when you’re racing for a win, other than the fact that you try not to crash each other,” Bell said. “Track position, man. That’s what ultimately won me the race.”

Bell climbed from fifth to second in the season points race, 29 behind Sadler and two ahead of Tyler Reddick, who finished 11th.

Gragson seemed more distressed at having come up short than having had an impressive debut.

“It’s kind of great to finish second in my first race, but I really wanted to win,” he said, adding that he had some regret for listening to his spotter, instead of his own instincts, when he thought he could catch Bell over the final 20 laps.

Points leader Elliott Sadler finished third and won a $100,000 bonus as the top finisher in the Dash for Cash. The Virginia native also won the second stage, his first stage win of the season, but restarted the final stage third and never challenged again.

“To not win the race is bad, but to win the $100,000 is great,” said Sadler, now winless in 30 career series starts on the 0.75-mile oval.

Bell, Sadler, Matt Tifft and Austin Cindric, who finished fourth and fifth, will be in the Dash for Cash next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Daniel Hemric, another of Friday night’s Dash for Cash contenders, had a strong early run and won the first stage, but he chanced staying on the track with a failing tire late in the second stage. He eventually hit the wall and fell way off the pace, finishing 29th.