With Bayston in a new ride, Swindell has hired another young up-and-coming driver to help him chase more wins — NASCAR star Christopher Bell.
Those wins almost came during the season-opening World of Outlaws races at Volusia Speedway Park in February.
Bell finished third on the first night of racing after winning the Drydene Heat Race. He then followed that up the second night by winning the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, leading 25 of the 30 laps in the feature and battling with 2013 series champion Daryn Pittman late.
While Bell ultimately had to settle for second, he ended up leaving Florida second in points to Pittman.
“I was pumped,” Swindell said of Bell’s Florida performance. “I really felt like had traffic played in our favor a little bit more we would have picked up two or three of those nights (at DIRTcar Nationals) but that’s part of racing with these guys. They don’t let you slack anywhere. It makes you so much better.”
Swindell started working with Bell last year after Bayston and the team were going through a low point.
“We crashed and just needed to get a second opinion, for both of our sakes, on the cars,” Swindell said.
At the time, Bell was ride hopping, he said, so he sent him a text to gauge his interest. Bell had shown interest before, but Swindell said he wasn’t sure if the 2017 NASCAR Truck Series champion was just joking or not.
“His team is new, but he has proven it (is a strong team) with multiple drivers,” Bell said. “They had a lot of speed with Spencer in the car, so I knew it was capable of running up front.”
Bell added that driving for a team owner who recently stepped out of the car has its advantages, as well.
Bell’s schedule with the Swindell SpeedLab team is up in the air. At the beginning of the year Bell said he hoped to do about 20 to 25 Sprint Car races this season. Many depend on the approval of his NASCAR team, Joe Gibbs Racing, giving him the approval to compete.
Swindell said he would like to extend his schedule with Bell, who he treats like any other sprint car driver — paying him for his time in the car.
At the moment, however, he’s excited to get to their next race already scheduled — Eldora Speedway, on May 10-11 for the #LetsRaceTwo doubleheader weekend.
Bell cites the Rossburg, Ohio speedway as one of his best tracks, with good reason.
Of Bell’s four World of Outlaws victories, two have come at Eldora, with the most recent being the most recent WoO visit to the half-mile dirt oval in October.
“Obviously his track record speaks for itself, so now I gotta do my job with it,” Swindell said. “I just truly don’t want to screw it up. We know he does his part there. So, I’m excited but nervous at the same time.”
While it’s Swindell’s car going around tracks he would like to win at, there’s no weird feeling watching someone other than him drive it. He said part of that is because it wasn’t his car to drive to begin with.
The accident may have ended his driving career, but it far from ended his sprint car career.
Swindell is still chasing wins and still has unfinished business.
“After feeling like we were so close to winning one at Lake Ozark (Speedway) last year with Spencer, then such good runs at World Finals, I’m dying to close one out,” Swindell said.