Bell Wins One For The Dirt Racers In Cup Race At Bristol

Finally, a dirt racing veteran scored the win in the NASCAR Cup Series dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Christopher Bell stayed out on older tires going into the final segment of the 250 lap race on Sunday night. Over the final 98 laps, Bell would come under fire time and again from Chase Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, and Austin Dillon.

Each time he held the measure, and was out front in his No. 20 Toyota with half a lap to go with Reddick hot on his heels when a crash on the backstretch brought out the caution and ended the race, giving Bell the victory.

“Man, those were some of the longest laps of my life,” Bell said. “This place is so much fun whether it’s dirt or concrete and whenever the cushion got up there on the top, it was very, very tough because you couldn’t drive it super hard otherwise you would get sucked in. If you got your right front into it, you would push a little and if you got your right-rear into it, you would slide. It was just a lot of fun.”

It’s the first win of the season for Bell, his first at Bristol and the fifth of his series career. He also becomes the first dirt track specialist to win at the dirt covered Bristol layout, having three Chili Bowl Midget Nationals victories among several on his dirt racing resume.

Bell said there were a few times when he was worried, he got into the outside wall while running up high on the slick dirt surface.

“Three and four, that was the scary corner for me because if you got into it too hard you lost all your momentum,” the Norman, Oklahoma native said. “In one and two, I think I got into the wall a couple times, but there seemed to be a little more moisture up there and it would hold me better so I could really attack one and two, but three and four I had to be careful. I just can’t get over how long those laps feel. They’re 20-second laps, but when you’re moving the wheel 18 times a corner, it feels like it takes a long time to get around there.”

Reddick, who came within one turn of winning last year’s race before contact with Briscoe sent both spinning, looked to have another shot at a win within his grasp going into the final lap, but in the end, he had to settle for a second place finish.

“Just needed to be a little bit closer than I was,” Reddick said. “Maybe with two to go I could have made that move work. Obviously, coming into three and four on the white flag lap we were going to see, but we’ll never know if it would have worked. Still a good rebound for us. We thought the track was going to take a different direction than it did as the race unfolded. As it worked out, our strategy wasn’t the best, but that was on me.”

Austin Dillon ran at the front of the field for most of the night, and came out on top of a late race battle with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. to finish in third.

“I had a lot of fun out there,” Dillon said. “Just wasn’t good enough against the fence when it mattered. We needed the track to kind of go back to our run. Right there at the end, we were kind of circling the middle and the car was really good.”

Stenhouse, Jr., a noted Sprint Car ace and the winner of this year’s Daytona 500, recorded his best finish of the year since that season opening victory with a fourth place result.

“We just struggled a little bit yesterday. The guys worked really hard all night coming up with something different,” said Stenhouse. “We changed our No. 47 Irish Spring Camaro around and we were better. We still didn’t have enough to run up front there, but we methodically kind of picked and chose lanes. We got to running the bottom really well and made up a lot of time on restarts. They all just kind of fell our way there.”

Briscoe dropped back after tagging the wall with 15 laps to go, but recovered to finish fifth, giving dirt track specialists a sweep of the top five.

“I thought the track was awesome,” said Briscoe, who was racing with a hand injury from a dirt track race earlier in the week. “I thought that was the most realistic dirt race you’re gonna get with real dirt cars. I felt like we finally saw the dirt guys shine for that same reason, so I had a lot of fun running the top like that. It actually built a little bit of a cushion. It’s still not much, but it was just a lot of fun.”

Justin Haley, Martin Truex, Jr., Todd Gilliland, Kevin Harvick, and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10.

The race was slowed 14 times by cautions for 71 laps, most for single car incidents. But pair of incidents between Kyle Larson and Ryan Preece highlighted the competitiveness of the event.

Larson, a dirt track ace in his own right, started the night on the pole, and led the opening segment of the race wire-to-wire.

Larson found himself mired in traffic after several cars did not stop during the break after the end of the first segment. While racing with Preece, the two made contact, with Larson squeezing Preece into the outside wall. Under an ensuing caution, Preece pulled alongside Larson, and showed his displeasure with a hand gesture out the window.

Preece would see his night take another turn when he spun with a damaged toe link on his Ford a few laps later. He fell two laps back while making repairs, but made his way back on the lead lap.

Larson, meanwhile, would not pace the field again. After finishing third in the second segment, a spin on lap 156 mired him back in the field.

Things came to a head as Larson and Preece raced for position on lap 174, with the two making contact while racing side-by-side. Larson’s car spun into the outside wall, where it was then hit by the oncoming car of Jonathan Davenport. Larson’s car was too heavily damaged to continue.

“I was just trying to run the top,” Preece said after a 24th place finish. “You guys saw it. He (Larson) was running the top and making ground and I tried to move up and it’s really slick if you’re not in the right spot, not racing dirt, I guess you figure that out.”

“Yeah, I’m guessing he was paying me back for whatever I did earlier,” said Larson, who was credited with a 35th place finish. “He ran me straight into the fence and my car was broke and we crashed. It sucks, but I should just be mad at myself for spinning out earlier and putting myself back there. Just sucks.”

Davenport, the Blairsville, Georgia native and dirt Super Late Model ace who was making his first career NASCAR Cup Series start, also suffered damage in the incident that ended his night. He was credited with a 36th place finish.

The race was none too kind to the two previous event winners. Joey Logano, who won the inaugural Bristol Dirt Race in 2021, was first caught up in an incident on lap 12 with Bubba Wallace, William Byron, and Gilliland, but suffered no damage. After just missing another incident on lap 58, he suffered damage in a lap 104 caution, ending his night. He was credited with a 37th place finish, dead last on the field.

Defending race winner Kyle Busch was a factor most of the night, finishing third in the first segment and fifth in the second segment. After working to stay in contention over the course of the final race segment, Busch spun with 15 laps to go with a suspension issue. He would finish 32nd.

NASCAR Cup Series
Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, TN
Food City Dirt Race – April 9, 2023

1. (4) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 250.
2. (6) Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 250.
3. (2) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 250.
4. (22) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 250.
5. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, 250.
6. (25) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 250.
7. (27) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 250.
8. (15) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 250.
9. (26) Kevin Harvick, Ford, 250.
10. (23) Ty Gibbs #, Toyota, 250.
11. (13) Michael McDowell, Ford, 250.
12. (11) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, 250.
13. (10) William Byron, Chevrolet, 250.
14. (18) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 250.
15. (20) Harrison Burton, Ford, 250.
16. (29) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 250.
17. (33) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 250.
18. (28) Chris Buescher, Ford, 250.
19. (7) Austin Cindric, Ford, 250.
20. (3) J.J. Yeley(i), Ford, 250.
21. (32) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 250.
22. (30) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 250.
23. (9) Ryan Blaney, Ford, 250.
24. (8) Ryan Preece, Ford, 250.
25. (34) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 250.
26. (37) B.J. McLeod, Chevrolet, 250.
27. (31) Josh Berry(i), Chevrolet, 250.
28. (16) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 249.
29. (17) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 248.
30. (35) Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 247.
31. (19) Aric Almirola, Ford, 240.
32. (5) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, Suspension, 236.
33. (36) Noah Gragson #, Chevrolet, 205.
34. (24) Matt Crafton(i), Ford, Engine, 185.
35. (1) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, Accident, 177.
36. (21) Jonathan Davenport, Chevrolet, Accident, 176.
37. (12) Joey Logano, Ford, Accident, 96.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 46.68 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 40 Mins, 40 Secs. Margin of Victory: Under Caution

Caution Flags: 14 for 71 laps.

Lead Changes: 4 among 4 drivers.

Lap Leaders: K. Larson 1-75; T. Reddick 76-134;K. Busch 135-140; T. Reddick 141-150; C. Bell 151-250.

Leaders Summary: (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led) Christopher Bell 1 time for 100 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 75 laps; Tyler Reddick 2 times for 69 laps; Kyle Busch 1 time for 6 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 5,3,8,41,12,20,14,45,31,24

Stage #2 Top Ten: 45,3,5,20,8,14,19,12,31,10

Playoff Standings: 1. William Byron – 193 (2 Wins); 2. Christopher Bell – 281 (1 Win); 3. Kyle Larson – 242 (1 Win); 4. Tyler Reddick – 235 (1 Win); 5. Kyle Busch – 234 (1 Win); 6. Joey Logano – 223 (1 Win); 7. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 194 (1 Win); 8. Ross Chastain – 268; 9. Kevin Harvick – 255; 10. Martin Truex, Jr. – 232; 11. Brad Keselowski – 216; 12. Ryan Blaney – 211; 13. Alex Bowman – 211; 14. Denny Hamlin – 203; 15. Austin Cindric – 193; 16. Chris Buescher – 183.

(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series