The 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season has been very kind to the driver of the No. 4 JBL Toyota Tundra, Christopher Bell.
The young 23-year-old in his second season is, so far, so good, but now the toughest challenge of the season comes this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where Bell looks to collect his first ever championship before he moves to the NASCAR XFINITY Series.
However, it was a close one Friday night, as he and teammate Noah Gragson, were battling hard for the win in the remaining laps until both made contact and wrecked. Bell’s Tundra was not as bad as Gragson’s but cost him a chance at the win and he finished eighth. With five wins, 14 top fives and 20 top 10 finishes, only two DNF’s and 865 laps led, it was enough for him to lock himself into the Championship 4 for the second consecutive year. Bell talks about the wreck.
“It was really intense and we were both doing everything we could to go for the win,” Bell said. “It’s a big advantage to be on the outside because you have all the side force and whenever you crowd him like that you take all the air off the side of his truck. I knew that I was playing with fire there and that there was a good possibility that I was going to get us both in trouble. He (Noah Gragson) was doing a really good job down there of hanging onto it and keeping it up – we were just racing really hard and it didn’t work out.”
