April 9, 2023 | By Lee Spencer

Christopher Bell prevails in dirt thriller at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn.—After three years of the Food City Dirt Race, the drivers who grew up on the surface finally prevailed.

Christopher Bell earned bragging rights after staying out and taking the lead at the end of Stage 2.

He held the point for the final 100 laps to score his first win at Bristol and the first of 2023.

“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 (tire) 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, but just so grateful to be here driving this No. 20 DeWalt Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. That was a lot of fun.”

Track conditions favored dirt track aces with Tyler Reddick finishing second followed by Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Briscoe and Justin Haley. Martin Truex Jr., Todd Gilliland, Kevin Harvick and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top 10.

Polesitter Kyle Larson led the first 75 laps. After winning Saturday night’s truck race, Joey Logano was punted by Byron on Lap 10 and spun into the water barrels in Turn 2. The incident inadvertently collected Bubba Wallace and Gilliland.

The spins continued with Matt Crafton, who was subbing for Cody Ware in the No. 51 Ford, going around out of Turn 4 on Lap 38. Brad Keselowski followed suit on Lap 58. The fourth caution on Lap 75 occurred when Josh Berry made contact with Denny Hamlin coming out of Turn 4 while battling for 22nd place. NASCAR concluded the first segment with Larson securing the stage win.

Reddick took the lead on Lap 76—and the hits kept coming during the second stage. Dirt Late Model champ Jonathan Davenport completed 82 laps before spinning in his NASCAR Cup debut. Seven laps later, Michael McDowell triggered the sixth caution for a spin in Turn 2—remarkably, Gibbs missed the No. 34 by going low. Daniel Suarez was running 25th when he spun in Turn 2 on Lap 96—the same circuit that Logano ended up in the garage after breaking an A-frame.

Ryan Preece was the next driver to hit the tilt-a-whirl on Lap 104. The team reported the No. 41 had a broken toe link, but he continued on. After Keselowski spun a second time on Lap 127, Reddick lined up alongside Kyle Busch for the restart. The new driver of the No. 8 wrangled away the lead on Lap 135. But it was shortlived after contact with his teammate Dillon and he dropped to third—and finally fifth as Reddick won the second stage.

When the leaders pitted on Lap 151, Bell remained on the track with Briscoe, Aric Almirola, Gilliland, Berry, McDowell, William Byron, Ross Chastain and Hamlin. Dillon lined up 10th with Larson 11th on old tires. Six laps after the green flag, Larson spun. A cat-and-mouse game ensued with Preece on Lap 176 and ended in Turn 1 to ignite the 11th of 14 cautions. The incident ended Larson’s night.

“Yeah, I’m guessing he was paying me back for whatever I did earlier,” Larson said. “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.”

Harvick spun in Turn 1 on Lap 202 for Caution 12. Busch collected Almirola before breaking his suspension and ending his night on Lap 236.

While Bell masterfully held off challenges by Briscoe and Reddick over the closing laps, Briscoe couldn’t keep his car off the wall and fell to fifth. Although the driver of the No. 45 Toyota had his shot at Bell—particularly after a last-lap wreck involving Berry, Suarez and Chastain—Reddick didn’t want to see the race end the way it had last year.

“Just hate it for everybody on this Sirius XM Toyota Camry TRD,” Reddick said. “Just needed to be a little bit closer than I was. I think with two to go, it would have been really bold to try to make that move work. 

“Obviously on the white flag coming into three and fewer, I was going to see. We will never know if it worked. But still a good rebound for us.” 

Bell held a 0.469-second advantage over Reddick when the checkered flag waved. He credited crew chief Adam Stevens’ strategy of leaving him on the track to secure his fifth career Cup win and take over the points lead.

“We clearly were not the best car,” Bell said. “But Adam kept asking me what I needed and I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know if you’re going to be able to help me enough on a pit stop adjustment to get me where I need to be.’ I just said, let’s stay out and he believed in me and we were able to make it work.”