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By Luis Torres, Staff Writer It hasn’t been the best start to Christopher Bell’s Sunoco NASCAR Rookie of the Year campaign, but Sunday’s Food City Presents the Supermarket Heroes 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway may have just build valuable momentum. Despite a late-race uncontrolled tire penalty, Bell’s No. 95 JBL Toyota Camry was able to survive the mayhem that “Thunder Valley” provided and scored a ninth-place, equaling his Coca-Cola 600 effort last Sunday. “We struggled a little bit early, but we continued to make progress on the JBL Camry,” said Bell.Read More
By David Morgan, Associate Editor Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season for the full-time drivers in the series leading into February’s running of the Daytona 500. Age: 25 Years in Cup: Rookie Career Wins: Seven Truck Series wins, 16 Xfinity Series wins Accomplishments: 2017 Truck Series championship Welcome to the big show, Christopher Bell. After working his way through the Toyota driver development pipeline over the past five years, the Norman, Oklahoma native finally gets his shot in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2020, taking over theRead More
By Luis Torres, Staff Writer After over a month of speculation, Leavine Family Racing finally confirmed Tuesday that NASCAR Xfinity Series star Christopher Bell will move up to the the sport’s premiere series in 2020. The Norman, Oklahoma native will replace Matt DiBenedetto in the No. 95 Toyota Camry and he’ll have familiar names joining him. Calling the shots will be his Xfinity Series crew chief Jason Ratcliff as Mike Wheeler will become the team’s Competition Director. Bell’s long-time partner of Rheem, who will also move up with the versatile driverRead More
By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent Following the Camping World 300 Christopher Bell became the first NASCAR Xfinity Series driver disqualified since 2005. Bell had finished third at Chicagoland Speedway in his No. 20 Rheem Toyota Supra. He was stripped of his third-place points, stage points, and winnings. Bell is now credited with a 38th-place finish and just one point earned. In 2005, Johnny Sauter was disqualified from the Spring race at Texas Motor Speedway for an illegal carburetor. No illegal parts were found on Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing machine. TheRead More
By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Correspondent Joe Gibbs Racing standout Christopher Bell recovered from an early spin to finish in the top-five at Pocono Raceway. On the final two restarts for the Pocono Green 250, Bell found himself in the middle of the hornet’s nest. The NASCAR Xfinity Series driver was ahead of the spinning Justin Allgaier on the first attempt to finish the 250-mile race. Bell slipped backward however as Allgaier spun in the middle of the field. Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota Supra was stuck in the middle ofRead More
By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor With his future in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series up in the air for next season and still looking for his first win of the 2017 season, Matt Kenseth and his No. 20 team found themselves in a prime position to check that box off the list in Sunday’s Overton’s 301 at New Hampshire, but a late race gamble on tires didn’t quite go his way and he would have to settle for a fourth-place finish instead. Kenseth would start the day in thirdRead More
By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer *Editor’s note: Motorsports Tribune will be previewing the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Season for 24 drivers. We will release one driver preview per day over a 24-day stretch. Age: 44 Years in Cup: 19 Career Wins: 38 Biggest Accomplishment: 2003 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship (Then Winston Cup Series) While change is common in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series garage, one driver that was not expecting a lot of change is Matt Kenseth. The only expected change for the 2017 season for Kenseth was theRead More
By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer In a race, timing is everything. When you pit, how long your pit stop takes, and as Matt Kenseth’s team learned during the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the order in which a tool is placed on the car. After starting in 13th, Kenseth quickly made his way up to the front, leading early and often. During a round of green flag pit stops on lap 117, in which Kenseth pitted from the lead, NASCAR penalized Kenseth and his No.20 DollarRead More