Pocono gamble almost pays off for injured Bell

Christopher Bell was five laps and a sputtering fuel tank away from going to victory lane at Pocono Raceway with one good arm.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 team, led by crew chief Adam Stevens, decided to gamble in the final stage. Bell pitted with 51 laps to go, and then cycled to the race lead when the rest of the field made their final stops over the remaining laps. He then went into fuel conservation mode as teammate Denny Hamlin, the dominant driver on the day, worked to cut down an 11-second lead.

Hamlin passed Bell for the lead and the win with five laps to go. Shortly thereafter, Bell was forced to pit and ultimately finished 26th.

However, it was “certainly” worth the gamble.

“We were mired back in the 20s, and so I think it was an amazing gamble,” Bell said. “The situation is so hard, because you don’t know if you are racing for the win, or if you are racing to finish the race, and so I didn’t stop shifting until about 10 to go – I left it in fifth – and then, I certainly could have given up more pace and fallen back and maybe finished outside of the top-10, and it would have been a net gain, but we ended up about where were going to be.”

Bell was coached repeatedly through the final stint about how much he had to save and which laps he had done exactly what the team needed. There were brief moments when they felt there might be a chance that Hamlin would not catch them.

“I mean, I didn’t know what to think,” said Bell of believing it would work. “I was just trying to stay open-minded and do my job inside of our Rheem Camry. Obviously, when they start telling me that we’re getting good gas mileage and we are in good position, I’m starting to get excited in there, but just wasn’t meant to be.”

Sunday’s performance was a gritty one for Bell, a week after fracturing his left wrist. Bell is in a cast and is using a modified steering wheel to help his grip. Pocono was not as challenging as some other tracks will be coming up, Bell knows, but it gave him a good indication of what he’s going to be dealing with going forward.

“So, whenever the field got strung out, I felt fine,” Bell said. “Running by myself, I felt like it was normal. Certainly, adverse conditions, when people were making quick moves on restarts, or you get put three-wide, the car gets loose – those are very difficult. Under normal circumstances, I think I’m fine, but restarts were very difficult.”