Christopher Bell’s Superspeedway Debut Set for NHMS
LOUDON, NH — Christopher Bell of Norman, OK will make his debut on a mile track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Bell is driving the ToyotaCare No. 51 for Kyle Busch Motorsports, part of a 15 race Super Late Model schedule. Teammate Kaz Grala is driving the No. 52 in Sunday’s inaugural Pro All Stars Series (PASS) race at New Hampshire.
“The furthest east I’ve ever been is PA, so definitely a new part of the country for me and I’m looking forward to running on a mile for the first time,” Bell said.
It is his first visit to New England and just his second time on a mile, since running 15 laps at Milwaukee in his first pavement car run.
” I don’t really remember too much about it and that was a little bit of a long time ago.”
Bell received the opportunity at KBM through Toyota, where he drives Keith Kunz’s Midget in POWRi and USAC.
His first pavement win was a PASS South race at Orange County last year. He has four Super Late Model wins this year at New Smyrna, South Alabama (Hardee’s Rattler 250) and two on the CARS Super Late Model Tour at Orange County and Southern National.
“I’m able to go to a bunch of different places that I’ve never been before. Obviously I’m sitting in one of the best Super Late Models in the country, so just trying to make the most of it and get these guys wins like they deserve.”
Bell will race the Oxford 250 at Oxford Plains (ME) Speedway on August 30.
“It will be fun. Like I said, that will be a totally different track. It’s a lot different than anything I’ve been on. … I’ve ran on the track a little bit on iRacing and it’s a different place, so be looking forward to get up there and see if I can run good there.”
Bell estimated that he will run 70 dirt track races this season. He has won in POWRi and USAC Midgets at Port City Raceway, Jacksonville Speedway, Macon Speedway and Bloomington Speedway. His second World of Outlaws Sprint Car win came at I-55 Raceway.
“I’m living my dream. My dream is just to be able to race as much as I can and make a living doing it, so I’m glad I get to race as much as I do and looking forward to next week I got four races in a row so looking forward to running here tonight and then I have four more races next week.”
Bell was the USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year and Champion in 2013. He won 27 races last year in 108 starts, including the historic Turkey Night Grand Prix at Perris (CA) Auto Speedway.
“We were really good that year. It’s just kind of one of our years where everything went right and then last year I came close to getting another or a second title but just wasn’t my year and Rico had one of those years where he did everything right and so it turned out to be our year that year and just glad that I was able to get that on my résumé.”
“I’ve been real fortunate to get in good race cars and it’s shown with my results. You can’t win races without a good race team, so I’m just really thankful to be in the good equipment that I am.”
Bell drove Midgets, Sprint Cars (Winged and Non-Winged), in addition to the Super Late Model last season.
“I think it helps being able to run different cars just because it helps with transitioning. Whenever you get into something totally different, it’s not as big of a shock.”
Bell finished fifth in his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut at Iowa and hopes for some additional races.
“It’s tough. Whenever you hop in Kyle Busch’s cars you’re expected to run good, so I’m just glad that I was able to perform and Erik (Jones) obviously is showing that the KBM cars are the dominant cars right now. So I still got a lot to learn and I need to get a lot faster. So hopefully I can continue to make gains and to be a better pavement racer.”
Bell has received additional media coverage lately with his additional asphalt races.
“It’s cool that people are paying attention to me, puts a little bit more pressure on me, but hopefully I can stand up to it.”
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com