'I think it was more driver' Bell says of coming up short to SVG

The difference between Christopher Bell and Shane van Gisbergen in the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race in Mexico City was Christopher Bell.

“I would love to say [it would be] a different setup, but I think it was more driver,” Bell said of what he would need to beat van Gisbergen the next time. “Both races this weekend, between the Xfinity car and the Cup car, I was good, just not good enough, and I lacked a little bit. The fact that I was a little bit off in both of them – I think I just need to work on myself a little bit and figure out what Shane was doing through a couple sections of the racetrack.

“My guys have been bringing really good road course cars for a long time now, so if we come back, I'll probably bring something pretty close and try to drive a little bit better and see if I can close the gap on him.”

Bell was 16.5s behind van Gisbergen when the checkered flag flew Sunday afternoon. During the final stint of the race, van Gisbergen drove away from the field and seemed to be cruising around the 15-turn, 2.4-mile Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. The race restarted for the final time on lap 69.

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Van Gisbergen and Bell shared the front row on that final restart. Bell initially fell back to third before overtaking a fading Alex Bowman.

Ultimately, Bell thought he was a third-place car throughout the weekend. He qualified 31st after the session was rain-shortened and was 20th after the first stage when the team chose to pit before the stage break and gave up track position. Bell finished the second stage in second place behind van Gisbergen.

JGR's driver who made his final pit stop (on lap 62) before the final caution (on lap 65). It allowed him to keep the track position and cycle to the front when the other half of the field had to pit under yellow.

“The rain, I was super excited about it at the beginning of the race because I didn’t qualify very good,” Bell said. “Starting in the back, the rain really opened up the opportunity to gain some positions and we were able to use that to get ourselves to the front. That was very rewarding and beneficial to my race.

“When the race dried out it was just a matter of comparing yourself to the guys up front. I got the lead at one point and Shane was clearly faster than me and drove back by. Yeah, close but not good enough.”

Bell has an average finish of 1.5 through the first two road course races of the season.