RACE INFO - The Food City 300 at BMS begins at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, August 17, 2018. The race will be broadcast live on NBCSN, Sirius XM 90, and PRN Radio.

Christopher Bell / No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry Preview Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway

Back to the Oval: Coming off two-consecutive road course races at Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio, Christopher Bell and the No. 20 Rheem team head to Bristol Motor Speedway (BMS) on Friday night for their second and final trip of the 2018 season at the iconic half-mile speedway. Bell will be making his second-career NXS start at “The Last Great Colosseum” after starting third and finishing 29th following a mid-race accident back in April.

Bristol is one of my favorite race tracks on the circuit and I’m looking forward to making another visit there this week.

Mid-Ohio Race Recap: Christopher Bell and his Rheem team paid a visit to The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course last weekend for race No. 21 of the 2018 season. After qualifying 10th for the 75-lap event on Saturday Morning, Bell worked his way to as high as second by lap 50, and would go on to finish 11th after another competitor made contact with the Rheem Camry on lap 65 causing him to run off course with just 10 laps remaining in the race.

Points Update: Following Mid-Ohio, Bell and his Rheem team now holding a 17-point advantage heading into this weekend’s race at BMS. Bell continues to hold the No. 1 playoff spot with just five races remaining in the 2018 regular season.

Rookie Update: Bell currently leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings by 165 points heading into this weekend’s race.

Joe Gibbs Racing at Bristol: JGR has 90 NXS starts at BMS with 12 wins, 30 top-five and 44 top-10 finishes. The championship-winning organization has nine pole awards with an average start of 11.7 and an average finish of 14.4.

Christopher Bell: “Bristol is one of my favorite race tracks on the circuit and I’m looking forward to making another visit there this week. Handling is very important at Bristol, so we will work on getting our Rheem Toyota Camry dialed in during practice on Thursday and hopefully find the right setup for Friday night. The night race at Bristol is really special, and a race that we all circle on the calendar every year. Hopefully we can go out on Friday night and put on a good show for all the fans, and come away with a solid finish for Rheem and everyone that supports us on this No. 20 team.”

Christopher Bell's Xfinity Series Stats