Untimely Caution Spoils Bell’s Bid for Second Win of 2017

Christopher Bell collected his second pole of the season and led four times for 37 laps in Friday night’s Toyota Tundra 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, but his bid for a second win of 2017 was thwarted late in the race when an untimely caution waved shortly after he made his final pit stop of the night.
 
Bell was scored in the third position when he was summoned to pit road with 44 laps remaining in the 167-lap event. Unfortunately, the 10th caution of the race occurred shortly after he returned to the track and with several of the lead-lap trucks having not made their stop, the JBL Tundra was scored one lap down in the 16th position. After taking the wave around and starting from the tail end of the field with 36 laps remaining, the Oklahoma native was able to recover and bring home a fourth-place finish.  
 
Stage One Recap:  
  • Bell started from the pole and led the first 22 laps of the race before surrendering the lead to Kyle Busch. He was able to fall in behind Busch and ended the first stage in the runner-up position. 
Stage Two Recap:
  • After pitting for fresh right side tires and fuel, the JBL Tundra restarted from the sixth position when the field went green on lap 47 to start Stage Two.
  • He advanced to the second spot five laps later just before the seventh caution of the night slowed the field. He maneuvered his way back to the front after the lap-57 restart and remained out front until lap 70. Bell would end Stage Two scored in the runner-up spot, once again behind KBM owner Kyle Busch. 
Final Stage Recap:
  • Bell pitted for four fresh tires and fuel with a wedge adjustment when pit road opened. The JBL Tundra was scored in the second position when Stage Three went green on lap 86. He fell back to the third spot on the restart and remained there until being summoned to pit road for his final scheduled pit stop of the event on lap 123.
  • After the over-the-wall crew administered a four-tire and fuel stop, Bell returned to the track one lap down in the 16th position. A one-truck accident brought out the caution on lap 126. With many of the lead-lap trucks having not visited pit road yet, the No. 4 team was caught a lap down.
  • After the leaders pitted, Bell was eligible for the wave around and took the lap-131 restart at the tail of the field. He returned to the top 10 on lap 138 and into the top five with under 10 laps remaining. He ended the night in the fourth spot, earning his third top-five finish in four starts this season.
CHRISTOPHER BELL, driver of the No. 4 SiriusXM Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports:
 
“I don’t know. We weren’t quite good enough as soon as Kyle (Busch) got around us there at the beginning of the race. We just kind of were stalled there. We couldn’t make enough speed there to get back by him. Obviously we kind of got caught behind the eight ball there with pit strategy whenever we tried to short pit. We still got back up to fourth which is kind of where we had been running. We were definitely better than the trucks in front of us, but we just weren’t quite where we needed to be.”
 
KBM PR