Christopher Bell celebrates (NASCAR via Getty Images)Bell Spins, Wins Kentucky Truck Series Race July 7, 2017 NASCAR Christopher Bell earned his third NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory this season and fifth of his career early Friday by holding off Brandon Jones in the Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 at Kentucky Speedway. The 22-year-old overcame a spin early in the race and led the final 37 laps in the No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. “This is pretty special,” said Bell, whose three victories have all come on 1.5-mile tracks this season. “This was an extremely tough race for me. We had our ups and downs there and through practice (Wednesday). Practice didn’t really go smooth, but we had such a good Toyota Tundra that I knew if the right circumstances came up we could do it. Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) did a great job on top of the pit box getting me track position after I made a mistake there and spun out.” Jones challenged Bell in the closing laps in the No. 99 Chevrolet but could not close the gap. He finished 0.167 of a second behind Bell for his third runner-up showing in 34 career Truck Series races. “I was trying everything I knew pretty much to do in there,” Jones said. “I know he was mirror driving me, had to have been, the way he was pulling back up on us. Just trying to play mind games with him, trying to trick him out some, but he had a hot rod as well tonight. It was an evenly matched deal. I just needed to be out front. I think we would’ve pulled away just like they did.” Bell led three times for a race-high 54 laps and was one of four Kyle Busch Motorsports entries in the race. Three finished in the top 10. Noah Gragson finished fifth in the No. 51 Toyota behind third place driver Justin Haley and fourth place driver Austin Cindric. Team owner Kyle Busch ran as high as second but was hampered by slow pit stops throughout. A sixth place finish for the seven-time Kentucky winner dashed hopes of a possible weekend sweep. The Buckle Up In Your Truck 225 was the first race held on the track since a new layer of asphalt was applied over the offseason. Bell said it was as smooth as glass. Drivers jockeyed for position on each restart and in doing so produced three- and four-wide racing that left onlookers holding their breath. The aggressive racing contributed to six of the eight yellow flags that slowed the race for 42 laps. “Turns 1 and 2 are really fast. It’s real easy to run wide open,” said Bell, who finished 17th and fourth in his two other Truck Series starts at Kentucky Speedway before this week. “That creates big drafts by the time you get to Turn 3, but then whenever you get to Turn 3 the entry is fairly wide then all of a sudden you get into the corner and there’s a truck-and-a-half width of rubber that you can run. There’s not enough room for three trucks, but lot of guys tried to make room for three trucks and it didn’t work.” The race started 2 hours, 51 minutes behind schedule due to weather and finished around 12:40 a.m. Qualifying was rained out, so the starting lineup was set by owner’s points. That put points leader and defending series champion Johnny Sauter on the pole at Kentucky for the second time in his career. He led the first 26 laps. Louisville native Ben Rhodes won the first stage and Gragson won the second. For each, it was their first stage win this season. Rhodes was expecting more than 3,000 supporters cheering him in the stands and he undoubtedly thrilled them when he surged past Sauter and ThorSport Racing teammate Grant Enfinger on a restart following the race’s first caution. Rhodes lined up 13th for the start of the second stage and was racing three-wide entering Turn 3 when he spun, slid up the track and hit the outside wall. ThorSport Racing teammate Grant Enfinger went high to try to avoid the accident but ran into Rhodes. The incident ended their nights. Rhodes and Enfinger finished 27th and 28th. A third ThorSport Racing entry driven by Matt Crafton sustained some minor damage but was able to continue and finished eighth behind Parker Kligerman. After being discharged from the infield care center, Rhodes said thought he had room on the bottom and was trying to gain position before the field strung out single file. “We had plenty of room out there,” Rhodes said. “I went on the bottom where there wasn’t very much and should have backed out a little bit sooner. I backed out as soon as I saw them coming down. We just all ran out of room. “All these people waited out the rain to watch us race. I got them a stage win. I’m just really sorry I couldn’t get them a win overall.” Friday’s On-Track Schedule Adjusted Weather kept XFINITY Series teams off the track Thursday. NASCAR rescheduled one of the day’s three practices for 8:30 – 9:55 a.m. Friday. Qualifying for the Alsco 300 remains scheduled at 4:30 p.m. with the race set to start at 8 p.m. There are two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practices scheduled Friday before qualifying for Saturday’s Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts. Cup teams are scheduled to practice from 10 – 11:55 a.m. with final practice slated for 1 – 2:25 p.m. Qualifying is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Three-time Quaker State 400 winner Brad Keselowski set the series’ track qualifying record of 188.791 mph in 2014.
