Christopher Bell A Place of Firsts

Christopher Bell heads to Iowa Speedway in Newton, the track where he finished fifth in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) debut in June of 2015. This weekend will be another first for Bell, as he pulls double duty for the first time in his career as he is set to wheel the No. 4 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) in the NCWTS M&M’s 200 on Friday night and then gets behind the wheel of the No. 20 ToyotaCare Camry Saturday night for his second career NASCAR XFINITY Series start for Joe Gibbs Racing.
 
Bell has gotten off to a hot start in his second full-time season in the Truck Series. The 22-year-old wheelman leads the series in wins (two), poles (three), playoff points earned (13), driver rating (114.8), laps led (339) and fastest laps run (160). The Oklahoma native is also tied with reigning Truck Series champion and current points leader Johnny Sauter with seven top-10 finishes. Outside of an accident that ended his day early at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, Bell has run up front, led laps and been in a position to win in the other seven events completed this season.
 
Now the No. 4 team heads to Iowa Speedway, a track where KBM currently holds a three-race winning streak, including the last two with Bell’s crew chief, Rudy Fugle, calling the shots. Erik Jones led a race-high 112 laps en route to victory in the 2015 event and William Byron visited victory lane last year after leading a race-high 107 laps. Fugle also had an influence in KBM’s 2014 win at the 0.875-mile oval, when he was the race engineer under crew chief Eric Phillips when Jones led a race-high 131 laps and ended the night in victory lane.
 
Iowa has certainly been a place of firsts for both Bell and KBM. Bell will now take aim at harvesting a pair of first-place finishes in the Hawkeye State as he tries to earn his first weekend sweep in NASCAR.
 
KBM PR