Bell sets rookie record for Xfinity Series wins
DOVER, Del. — Christopher Bell has a second straight NASCAR championship in his sight. A NASCAR record is in his possession.
Bell, the 2017 Camping World Truck Series champion, won his sixth Xfinity Series race this season in the playoff race Saturday at Dover International Speedway. With it, he set the rookie record for victories in a season, passing three drivers who had shared the mark: Greg Biffle won five races in 2001, as did Kyle Busch in 2004 and Carl Edwards in 2005.
Bell built his record with wins at Kentucky, New Hampshire, Iowa and Richmond (twice), and he hopes to add a few more for the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota as he chases a championship.
“We’re in really good shape,” said Bell, who won the first stage of Saturday’s race and was never in any serious trouble, leading 110 of 200 laps.
“It’s been a career year for me,” Bell added. “All credit to Joe Gibbs Racing. We have really fast race cars every time I go to the race track.”
Headed into the race, Bell was the only driver in the 12-man playoff field who had a spot secured in the round of eight. When the series picks up in two weeks at Kansas, he’ll be joined in championship contention by Justin Allgaier, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Daniel Hemric, Tyler Reddick, Elliott Sadler and Matt Tifft.
Ross Chastain, Brandon Jones, Ryan Reed and Ryan Truex failed to advance.
“I’ll be just as sharp whenever we get to Kansas as I was today,” Bell said.
The remaining playoff drivers know there is only one sure way to knock off Bell.
“It would be nice to win a race,” said Custer, who finished second Saturday. “I think we’ll have a shot to do it.”
Allgaier, Ryan Preece and Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top five at Dover.
This season, the 23-year-old Bell became the first series regular with a three-race winning streak since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1999. Kyle Busch did it four times from 2008 to 2016, but he was running full-time in the Cup Series as well.
Bell is taking for nothing for granted, putting his focus on being among the final four drivers for the season finale and title fight at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 17.
“I don’t think it’s any of our championships to lose,” Bell said. “It boils down to the last race. It all boils down to one run at Homestead (to determine) who the champion is.”
Bell ran a pair of races on NASCAR’s K&N regional series and seven truck races in 2015, winning for the first time on the dirt at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. He showed enough promise to land a full-time truck ride with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2016, winning just once but finishing in the top 10 in 19 of 23 events.
Last season was the first of consecutive breakout campaigns for Bell. He won five times, finished in the top five 15 times and clinched the championship by finishing second at Homestead.
Bell moved up yet again in 2018, landing a 23-race Xfinity deal with JGR after running just eight times in the series, including a win at Kansas in 2017.
“I think his future in the sport is big,” crew chief Jason Ratcliff said. “I think it can go as far as he wants it to go.”