Christopher Bell took home the checkered flag in a wild finish on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Bell was racing Chase Briscoe side-by-side when suddenly a caution flew just after both drivers had taken the white flag. Bell, a native of Oklahoma, took home his fourth career Camping World Truck Series victory.
“We’re in victory lane, so it’s just a dream come true to be able to win here in Texas – my hometown, all of the Tundras are built right here in Texas – so it’s a huge win for us, everybody at Toyota and Toyota Racing Development,” said Bell after the race. “Man, our JBL Tundra was super, super good.”
Bell and Briscoe battled it out all throughout the closing laps of the Winstaronlinegaming.com 400K. In a side-by-side controversial finish at the end, NASCAR determined a short time later that the No. 4 Toyota of Christopher Bell edged out Briscoe for the top spot.
“No, I had no idea. I didn’t think he (Chase Briscoe) had the lead whenever he got it and then I didn’t think I had the lead whenever I got it, so it’s just so tight, man,” Bell continued after the race. “Me and Chase have known each other for a long time – we’re really good friends and met each other racing online whenever we were in our teens and now here we are racing in the Camping World Truck Series together.”
Bell now holds two victories, five top five and six top 10 finishes through seven starts in 2017. The driver for Kyle Busch Motorsports has an average start of 5.3 and an average finish of 6.4.
Grant Enfinger took home his second top-five finish of the night with a third-place finish. Enfinger, driving the No. 98 Jive Communications Toyota, started fifth on the race leaderboard.
The crash that ended the race involved Johnny Sauter, Austin Wayne Self, and Timothy Peters, with Peters getting the worse end of the deal. The crash coming to the white flag sent Peters on his lid after hitting the frontstretch grass viciously. Peters finished 13th.
Bell, when first being interviewed on television following his win, expressed his concern for Peters after the race. “First off, I want to make sure everyone is okay. It’s kind of a sorrow victory here in victory lane That was a pretty bad flip and I’ve taken my fair share of flips and it hurts a lot worse whenever it’s in the grass like that one was, so I hope he’s (Timothy Peters) okay. That’s the most important part.”
Peters was okay and walked away from the race ending accident.
Sauter, who won stage one of the race, took home an eight-place finish at the 1.5-mile Texas oval. The Camping World Truck Series veteran continues to lead the series standings by 40 points over race winner Christopher Bell. Matt Crafton, Chase Briscoe and Ben Rhodes round out the top five as the series heads to Gateway Motorsports Park next week.
The Gateway 200 will take place live on FOX Sports 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET. on Saturday. In addition, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM Channel 90 will carry the live radio broadcast.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
- NCTS: Eckes Scores Second Victory of 2024 at Martinsville - April 5, 2024
- NWMT: Justin Bonsignore Noses Ron Silk for 41st Career Victory at Richmond - March 29, 2024
- NCS: William Byron Scores EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Victory in Austin - March 24, 2024