By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer
At one point, gloom and doom appeared for Christopher Bell and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
As has been the case throughout the season, they didn’t back down from adversity. Bell and company bounced back from a mid-race crash to snatch a top-10 in the closing laps of Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
On Lap 119, a wild stage 2 reared its ugly head when a restart spelled trouble for Bell who tried ducking low to get by the Team Penske duo of Joey Logano and eventual race winner Ryan Blaney.
However, Bell ducked low in the path of Erik Jones as both Toyota drivers rubbed fenders. Unappreciated by the move, Jones made more contact on the back bumper of Bell which sent his car backing into the Turn 1 wall.
Contact on the restart sends @CBellRacing spinning! pic.twitter.com/oknnxFZJKa
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 2, 2025
Chase Elliott barely escaped running into the careening Bell as everybody got around him without harm. Jones had battle scars on the right front, but didn’t pit for repair. Meanwhile Bell sustained rear damage on the left rear quarter panel, but fortunately it wasn’t significant to end his night early.
Fresh tires and minor repairs were put on the DEWALT machine and carried onto his night without losing a lap.
In fact, Bell rallied his way back into the top-10 to collect a stage point after crossing the line in 10th at the end of Stage 2. With his fifth place Stage 1 result, Bell ended up with seven total stage points.
With the race winding down, Bell saw himself hanging on by thread to score his 10th top-10 finish of the season. Coming to eight laps remaining, Bell was passed by Tyler Reddick for position, and it appeared over for Bell’s top-10 aspirations.
Not long after, Reddick wasted no time passing Ross Chastain, who’s tires were worn out that it lost pace towards the end, for the ninth spot. With Chastain fading, Bell capitalize on the opportunity to get salvage a top-10 result after a long day in Tennessee.
While Blaney was en route to his first win of the season, Bell was battling with Chastain for 10th and did so for a few laps. Bell went low on Chastain and tried clearing him, but Chastain fought hard to hold onto the position until he couldn’t any longer.
Bell’s final pass happened in Turn 4 when he cleared Chastain with four laps remaining to secure a series-leading 10th top-10 finish. Only Kyle Larson, who finished eighth, share the same number of top-10s after 14 races.
Heading into next Sunday’s race at Michigan (2 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime) third in the regular season standings, a distant 88 points behind William Byron.
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