RACE: Use Your Melon Drive Sober 200
TRACK: Dover International Speedway
START: 6th
FINISH: 25th
LAPS: 200

Early Mechanical Issue Derails Solid Run for Christopher Bell at Dover

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-45)

• Christopher Bell started sixth for Saturday’s race at Dover International Speedway and ended the day 25th after mechanical issues sent him to the garage twice for repairs
• Bell quickly moved up to fourth before a caution flag flew on lap one for an incident in Turn 2 involving his two Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammates Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton.
• Bell took the lap four restart fourth and was running in the top three when he radioed to his crew chief Jason Ratcliff that he did not have any fuel pressure.
• On lap 15, Bell hit pit road for an unscheduled pit stop so the No. 20 Rheem Racing team could diagnose the problem.
• Bell took his Supra to the garage so his team could make repairs. He returned to the track 12 laps down in 31st.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 46-90)

• Bell started 30th, finished 25th.
• Despite the mechanical setback, Bell was running laps times faster than the leaders.

Stage 3 Recap (Laps 91-200)

• Bell started 25th, finished 25th.
• Bell continued to run solid laps times but could never advance in his running positions since he was stuck 13 laps down
• On lap 177 a caution flag flew for a single-car incident in Turn 4. Ratcliff summoned his driver to pit road so the team could take another look under the hood.
• The Rheem Racing team determined Bell’s day was over. He was credited with a 25th-place finish.

Additional Notes

• Bell advanced to the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) Playoffs.
• Bell leads the NXS Championship Point Standings, 10 points ahead of Cole Custer

Talk about the rough finish.
“Yeah, that was disappointing. I honestly have no idea what really happened. Going down the front straightaway it shut off. Then I coasted onto pit road. We changed carberators and it seemed to run fine, but at that point, we were 10 laps down.”

Solid tracks in the next round of the Playoffs.
“They’re three really good race tracks for us, so I think we should be in good shape. Hopefully, we got all the bad stuff out of the way.”

Next Up: The NASCAR Xfinity Series is off next weekend but will return to action in two weeks at Kansas Speedway. The race will be broadcast live Saturday, October 19 at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.