Page 194 - 2019_NPPG_digital copy

CHRISTOPHER BELL

Birth Date: December 16, 1994 Hometown: Norman, OK
Birth Date: August 12, 1993 Hometown: Bakersfield, CA
Team: No. 20 Toyota Supra / Joe Gibbs Racing
Team: No. 16 Toyota Tundra/Roush Fenway Racing

After winning the 2017 Gander Outdoors Truck Series championship at the age of 22,
Christopher Bell continued his mercurial rise through the NASCAR ranks by winning a series-
best seven races last season in the Xfinity Series.

It’s an incredible story for one of the sport’s brightest young talents, who continues
to exploit his virtuosity as an open-wheel dirt-track standout. Bell won a pair of
major dirt races within weeks of each other as the 2017 season closed and
2018 opened: In the Tulsa Shootout, the country’s biggest micro-sprint
event and his second consecutive title in the country’s most prestigious
midget race, the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, also in Tulsa, Okla.
FEATURED DRIVERS He followed that success with another Chili Bowl victory

this year.

Bell, 24, a native of Norman, Okla., was the odds-
on favorite to win the Xfinity title last November, but
an 11th-place finish at the championship race at the
Homestead-Miami Speedway dropped him to a fourth-
place finish in points.

Instead of resting on an otherwise-sensational season, Bell
focused more on continuing his learning curve.

“I mean, I need to get better here,” Bell said. “Last year [2017] I won the
truck championship [at Homestead], so that’s my one glimmer of hope or
glimmer of fame that I’ve got here at this racetrack. But I don’t know. I don’t
know what we missed today or what I missed. But I missed something, that’s
for sure.”

He will get another chance this season in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota Supra.

His time in the truck series was short, but successful. He won seven times in just
54 starts, a 13-percent winning average. He’s been even better in Xfinity with eight
victories in just 41 starts, a 19.5-percent winning average.

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series roster at Joe Gibbs Racing is filled. Kyle
Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin are two longstanding veterans, while Erik
Jones is a youngster who represents the next generation of drivers.

For now, Bell is both anxious and willing to wait for his opportunity.

194 THE OFFICIAL NASCAR 2019 PREVIEW & PRESS GUIDE