Christopher Bell’s Sunday at Dover was like a fireworks show in reverse. It started with a bang and ended in smoke — tire smoke, to be exact.
Bell, who’s already won three times this season, looked ready to make it four. He led 67 laps, started third, and grabbed the Stage 2 win like a man on a mission. But when the final stage began, so did the unraveling. Racing Chase Elliott for the lead — because of course it was Chase Elliott — Bell took the high line through Turn 3, and just like that, the rear end of his No. 20 Toyota broke loose. One spin, a drop to 22nd, and the afternoon turned from promising to precarious.
“I knew he wasn’t going to lift, and I wasn’t going to lift, either,” Bell said. “We were going to race really hard and just spun out.”
Fair enough. At least the man was trying.
Rain delays gave him another shot. Clever pit calls moved him back into the conversation, and Bell went charging after teammate Denny Hamlin like a man chasing a payday. But with eight laps to go — in the same Turn 4 where hope tends to go die at Dover — he looped it again, scattering the field and forcing William Byron and Noah Gragson into synchronized evasive maneuvers that ended with both of them hitting something solid.
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Bell, somehow, didn’t hit a thing.
“So, Dover and spinning out — I’ve got a problem with that,” Bell said after clambering from his car. “It’s a bummer. But the guys did a really good job. I’m honestly proud of the effort.”
It was, to put it mildly, a chaotic P18 — his fourth finish outside the top 15 in the last five races. But there were flashes of hope buried beneath the bruised Goodyears.
“It is refreshing to have speed again in our Rheem Camry,” Bell said. “We haven’t had pace, but today we were able to lead laps and get stage points and we won a stage. That is something that I’m super excited about, even though I made mistakes… We were going for the win, and if we keep bringing speed like that to the race track, then we are going to be just fine.”
Translation: Yes, he spun twice. But he was spinning for the lead — not lapping around in 30th. It was a messy day, sure, but at least it was a fast mess.
And in this sport, that’s often how the good stories begin.
Greg was a writer for DriveTribe supporting Amazon's The Grand Tour and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, and a Masters degree in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek and a regular contributor to Forbes.
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