Bell happy with 'good second place' finish at Indianapolis

Christopher Bell needed a bobble from Corey Heim in the final stint of the Brickyard 400. It never came.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to get there at all,” Bell said after finishing second to Toyota teammate Corey Heim. “My guys were telling me he was going loose, and I knew that really was going to be my only opportunity, a mistake from him. And I knew that whatever it was, 35 laps, was a very long run, and I just needed one bobble.

“If he would have had one bobble, I was going to be able to get there. But he did a great job; he showed excellent mental toughness and put together 35 really good laps, and I didn’t have an opportunity.”

The run to the finish came off a restart with 34 laps to go. Bell had lined up third, on the inside lane behind leader and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. The plan was for the Gibbs drivers to work together in the restart zone by launching and pushing each other down the long frontstretch.

But Bell did not get connected to Hamlin, who was quickly dispatched by Corey Heim as he had a push from Joey Logano. And then Chase Briscoe, who was lined up in fifth place, behind Bell, did not get connected to Bell.

By the time the field came off Turn 2, Heim was leading Hamlin, but Bell was giving him a challenge. Bell took the position on the outside halfway down the backstretch.

Bell then followed Heim around Indianapolis for 34 laps with nothing in his arsenal.

“This is a good second place,” said Bell. “We’ve had a lot of bad second-place finishes, but this one is a good one. We were buried after qualifying, and Adam [Stevens] did a great job with strategy to get us up there, and whenever we had the restart on the second row, I was really happy with our position.

“I’m just proud of Adam, proud of this team. We pulled together a really good day, and we’ve run second a lot; there have been bad seconds, but this one is a pretty good second.”

Bell qualified 23rd. A two-tire call under the lap 115 debris caution gained him 10 positions to move into fourth place.

Sunday was the sixth time Bell finished second this year. He has been winless since September.