LONG POND, Pa.: Quietly NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year candidate Christopher Bell earned a fourth-place finish in Saturday afternoon’s Pocono Organics 325.
The Leavine Family Racing driver was able to utilize strategy during Stage 3 of Saturday’s doubleheader race and when he pitted with 39 laps to go, crew chief Jason Ratcliff was able to keep his driver with solid track position that allowed him to keep drivers like Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer at bay during the waning laps.
Bell was the second-highest finishing Toyota on Saturday only to runner-up Denny Hamlin and was Leavine Family Racing’s best finish in the NASCAR Cup Series since Matt DiBenedetto finished second to Hamlin last summer at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
it was a great day. I was really happy with our Rheem Camry,” said Bell. “It took me a little bit to get up to speed with obviously not having practice in my first race in a Cup car here, but by the end I was really happy with the car.
“Everyone did a great job here on this 95 group; we executed and ended up upfront We seemed to be really fast in turn one, that’s kind of where I could make all my moves at.
“Just have to work on turn three a little bit and see how tomorrow goes.”
Bell said based on his experience working with Ratcliff, he expected strategy to come into play at a place like Pocono and never once had to question to his crew chief’s plan.
“Whenever I started working with Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) two years ago in the Xfinity Series, well even before that, I started following him and I knew he was really aggressive on strategy to get his driver up front,” added Bell.
“Seems like the majority of the race tracks that we’ve been to the last couple weeks have just been, put four tires on and go, but Pocono is definitely a place where you can mix up strategy, pit early, pit before the stages and so forth. Obviously, Jason did a great job and got us up front and we had the car speed to stay up there.”
Even though there was a different approach for the team in Stage 3, Bell’s fourth top-10 finish of the season only continues to elevate the performance of the No. 95 Toyota the deeper his freshman season continues leaving them with realistic expectations that a Playoff position may be feasible by not only hard work but perhaps even a win.
The NASCAR Cup Series is one race past the halfway mark in the regular 26-race season with Bell stuck 24th in the championship and 70 points behind the cutoff spot held by fellow rookie Tyler Reddick.
Without a win, it will take several of Saturday’s finishes to even put themselves in the hunt, but they have proven over the last month they will not go down quietly.
Since returning to racing since the COVID-19 pandemic, Bell picked up three top-10 finishes at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, and has improved his average finishing position by 13 spots to 16.1 over the last 10 races compared to just the first four at 29th place.
Pocono offers a second dose of competition at its’ 2.5-mile triangle tomorrow and Bell is hoping his team is able to capitalize on their momentum.
Because of an invert, Bell will start 17th tomorrow afternoon. A much better spot than his 35th place starting spot in his Pocono Cup debut.
“I’m looking forward to seeing if we can build on it,” explained Bell. “I think all of our cars are really good. We are close to winning, so hopefully, we can continue to get better and see if we can move up a little further tomorrow.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
