FORT WORTH, Texas – Christopher Bell may have been the dominant force in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, but he couldn’t stop the juggernaut that was his teammate Kyle Busch.
Bell started from the pole at the 1.5-mile quad-oval and led four times for a race-high 127 laps in the My Bariatric Solutions 300, winning stage one and appearing to be on his way to his second win of the year.
In fact, Bell wrested the top spot from rival Tyler Reddick with 48 to go and was in the catbird’s seat when a caution waved with a dozen laps left, erasing fuel mileage concerns for the frontrunners.
However, a two-tire call where Busch and Reddick took fuel only was the difference. It knocked Bell off the front row and gave clean air – and track position – to the series’ all-time wins leader.
At that point, there wasn’t much more Bell could do. He was forced to watch as Busch rocketed away on the race’s final restart with six laps to go, stuck in third place with no path forward in the final moments.
It was a bittersweet defeat for Bell, who knew that a victory had slipped through his fingers even as he became one of the four Xfinity Dash 4 Cash qualifiers ahead of next week’s race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
“I thought we had Kyle (Busch) beat,” Bell admitted. “I led more laps than him. I passed him a couple times on restarts. We just didn’t have track position there at the end. They just decided to go no tires. They told me we were going to put two (tires) on. I was okay with that, because on that long run, I started getting pretty tight, so I figured I needed some help. Those guys didn’t take any tires at all, and then they just fired off probably a little bit faster than what I did.
“It just wasn’t there in the cards.”
How dominant was Bell on Saturday? In addition to his laps led total, Bell averaged a running position of third for the 200-lap event, spending only 11 circuits all day outside of the top 15.
Those 11 laps came courtesy of a speeding penalty during the first stage break, which Bell quickly rallied back from.
By the time he got back to the race lead on lap 99, just after the start of the final stage, it was as if Bell had never left. It was also clear at that point that it would take a big effort for anyone to stop him.
Busch just found that last gasp when it mattered most, and Bell knew as much.
“Kyle wasn’t better than us anywhere; he just had track position there. I don’t know (what we could have done),” Bell lamented. “Just that last run, I didn’t get any better, and those guys didn’t slow down. A very disappointing day, but we’re in the Dash 4 Cash, so that’s pretty cool. My goal was to make sure that we were in the top-four Xfinity guys, and we did that, so that’s a positive.
“It’s very frustrating to lose one like that, but I’m really proud of this team, because this Rudd Supra was extremely fast and the class of the field.”