The Duel victory Thursday night means Christopher Bell and the #20 team started P4 for the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

The Daytona 500 is unique in many ways, one being how the starting lineup is determined. Teams run a traditional qualifying lap on Wednesday, this locks in the front row (1st & 2nd place). For the remaining starting positions, there are two 60-lap Duel’s to determine the starting lineup.

In addition to winning the Duel, Christopher also secured ten points towards the regular season championship. 

The duels Thursday night marked the first, at speed, pack racing for the new, redesigned Toyota XSE.  Christopher Bell worked with fellow Toyota Driver Bubba Wallace for much of the race. Bell started 16th and worked his way to the front of the pack. Green flag pit stops began with sixteen laps to go.  Teams and manufacturers wanted to stick together, causing multiple groups to pit together under green, this broke the large pack of cars into smaller groups. 

With 11 laps to go, a multi-car wreck occurred, Bell narrowly avoided the accident, this positioned himself back towards the front.  Bell and fellow JGR teammate Denny Hamlin were able to push their way to the lead. Bell took the white flag in the second position, he made a smart block in turn 2 that stalled the run (momentum) of two cars on the outside, this propelled him past Denny Hamlin, and into the lead. 

Christopher Bell only lead one lap, the most important one. 

We are excited to kick off our Rheem Racing season.  Look for the Rheem #20 car on the track March 10.