Bell hopeful that 'it's going to turn around at some point'

Christopher Bell can’t catch a break.

For the third consecutive week, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was taken out of the running while in contention for a potentially solid day. On Sunday, it happened at Texas Motor Speedway. To add insult to injury, it happened as he led in the first stage.

Bell was clipped in the right rear as he tried to charge past a spinning Todd Gilliland on the frontstretch. Only moments before, he had cleared teammate Denny Hamlin, who slowed for the spinning Gilliland up ahead for the race lead. Bell decided to try to make it past on the bottom and wasn’t so lucky.

“It was another one of those 50-50 calls,” Bell said. “Me and Denny were side by side and I saw him spinning, and Denny lifted and I thought that I could shoot the gap on the bottom. And I thought I did shoot the gap on the bottom, but I got clipped.”

The contact sent Bell for a spin, which caused him to hit the outside wall. It ended his race.

Bell was credited with a last-place finish in 38th position. He had led 22 laps.

“It’s a bummer, but I’m thankful,” he said. “I’m thankful I get to drive really fast race cars, thankful I got to lead laps today, thankful I get to carry the Rheem colors, drive for Joe Gibbs Racing. I was a couple of feet. A couple of feet away from having a great day.

“It’s going to turn around at some point.”

The incident was the third in as many weeks in which Bell was taken out by a fellow competitor. In the process, he has fallen to 13th in the standings.

In overtime at Kansas Speedway, he was making a run on the outside off Turn 2 to battle three-wide for second position when Tyler Reddick washed up into him. Bell hit the outside wall and faded to a 20th-place result.

A week later, at Talladega Superspeedway, he was in the main pack coming through the tri-oval on the final lap with a shot at a top-10 finish. But the crash that broke out in front of him and collected his Toyota relegated him to a 17th-place finish.

It’s been four consecutive weeks, dating back to Bristol Motor Speedway, that Bell has finished 17th or worse.