Christopher Bell Wins first Xfinity Race at Kansas

Colin Braley/Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – Christopher Bell ran down a dominant Erik Jones and passed him with four laps to go to win at Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Kansas Lottery 300 on Saturday.  It was Bell’s first win in the Xfinity series.

 Bell, driving the No. 18 Toyota, won in his fifth career start. It comes in the opening race of the second round of the playoffs.

Bell passed Jones in Turn 3 and drifted up to the wall as they exited Turn 4, where Jones then ran into him.

“I haven’t seen it so I can’t really talk much about it,” Bell told NBC. “But I never want to wreck anyone, especially my teammate. I don’t know. My spotter said clear, I drove it in really deep. I felt like I cleared him (watches replay). I don’t know man, I was clear. It’s my first Xfinity win. I’m sorry that Erik couldn’t finish the race. But I’m just stoked. This thing was awesome.”

Jones dominated the race until the pass by Bell. Jones led 186 of 200 laps and swept the first two stages. He finished 15th, one lap down due to damage from running into the back of Bell.

“It’s not dirt racing, he (wasn’t) clear,” Jones told NBC. “I can’t just stop on the top. I didn’t expect him to drive in on the bottom so far he wouldn’t be able to hold his lane. It’s unfortunate. … I thought we were going to race for the win. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of a race. It was more of a wreck.”

Jones has not finished better than 15th in his last four Xfinity starts.

It is the first win for Joe Gibbs Racing since Denny Hamlin won at Darlington Raceway, a five-race stretch. JGR has won 11 Xfinity races this season.

Bell, 22, is a full-time driver in the Camping World Truck Series. He will race full-time for JGR in the Xfinity Series next year.

The top five was Bell, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, William Byron and Justin Allgaier.

Many drivers had good days.

Jones dominated the race, leading 186 of 200 laps.  Jones won Stage 1 and Stage 2 until Bell made the pass on Lap 1196 (of 200). Elliott Sadler finished seventh after bouncing back from a spin in Turn 4 on Lap 77 and a pit penalty. Tyler Reddick gave the No. 42 Chevrolet its fourth top-two finish in the last five races. William Byron finished fourth and Matt Tifft placed eighth after both had to start from the rear for unapproved adjustments.

Others had bad days.

Daniel Hemric finished 18th, a lap down after receiving a penalty for pitting outside his box, and Blake Koch finished 23rd, four laps down after getting into the wall with about 35 laps to go.  Cole Custer finished 19th, two laps down after pitting for a bad tire with less than five laps to go.

Jones was less than sympathetic toward Bell’s winning move.

 “I just don’t think that’s the way to do it. I get that (Christopher Bell) was clear’, Jones said. “He wasn’t clear for the run I was having on the top. I was in the gas. There was no way I could slow up enough to let him. It’s just unfortunate. It took me out of the race. I just don’t really appreciate that. I don’t think many people will.’’

Next for the Xfinity Series is Texas Motor Speedway on November 4th.

Unofficial Race Results for the 17Th Annual Kansas Lottery 300 - Saturday, October 21, 2017 - Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS - 1.5 Mile Paved

Fin, Str, Driver, Car, Laps, St1, St2, Pts, Tms, Laps, Playoff Pts, Status
1) 4, Christopher Bell(i), No. 18 JBL Toyota, 200, 5, 4, 0, 1, 4, , Running
2) 1, Tyler Reddick, No. 42 BBR/Dustin Lynch Chevrolet, 200, 3, 5, 49, 1, 3, , Running
3) 3, Ryan Blaney(i), No. 22 Discount Tire Ford, 200, 2, 2, 0, 1, 3, , Running
4) 6, William Byron # (P), No. 9 Vannoy Construction Chevrolet, 200, , 6, 38, , , , Running
5) 13, Justin Allgaier (P), No. 7 Degree Deodorant Chevrolet, 200, 8, 3, 43, , , , Running
6) 5, Austin Dillon(i), No. 2 Rheem Chevrolet, 200, 4, 10, 0, , , , Running
7) 11, Elliott Sadler (P), No. 1 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet, 200, 6, , 35, , , , Running
8) 8, Matt Tifft # (P), No. 19 Surface/Fanatics Toyota, 200, , , 29, , , , Running
9) 16, Ty Dillon(i), No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet, 200, , , 0, 1, 4, , Running
10) 15, Ryan Reed (P), No. 16 Lilly Diabetes Ford, 200, , , 27, , , , Running
11) 12, Brandon Jones, No. 33 American Ethanol/Casey's General Store Chevrolet, 200, , , 26, , , , Running
12) 9, Brennan Poole (P), No. 48 DC Solar Chevrolet, 200, 7, 8, 32, , , , Running
13) 24, Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 South Point/City Lights Shine Chevrolet, 200, , , 24, , , , Running
14) 20, Michael Annett, No. 5 Allstate Parts & Service Group Chevrolet, 199, , , 23, , , , Running
15) 2, Erik Jones(i), No. 20 Reser's American Classic Toyota, 199, 1, 1, 0, 4, 186, , Running
16) 19, Dylan Lupton, No. 24 Nut Up Toyota, 199, , , 21, , , , Running
17) 21, Ross Chastain, No. 4 teamjdmotorsports.com  Chevrolet, 199, , , 20, , , , Running
18) 10, Daniel Hemric # (P), No. 21 Blue Gate Bank Chevrolet, 199, 9, 9, 23, , , , Running
19) 7, Cole Custer # (P), No. 00 Haas/Code 3 Associates Ford, 198, 10, 7, 23, , , , Running
20) 23, JJ Yeley, No. 14 TriStar Motorsports Toyota, 198, , , 17, , , , Running
21) 14, Spencer Gallagher #, No. 23 Allegiant Chevrolet, 197, , , 16, , , , Running
22) 31, Quin Houff, No. 46 BeatinCancerwithDuke.org Chevrolet, 196, , , 15, , , , Running
23) 18, Blake Koch, No. 11 Breat Cancer Honor & Remember Chevrolet, 196, , , 14, , , , Running
24) 28, Harrison Rhodes, No. 01 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 195, , , 13, , , , Running
25) 22, Jeremy Clements, No. 51 RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet, 195, , , 12, , , , Running
26) 17, Ryan Sieg, No. 39 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 194, , , 11, , , , Running
27) 32, David Starr, No. 99 Moore Freight Service Inc. Chevrolet, 194, , , 10, , , , Running
28) 34, Garrett Smithley, No. 0 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 192, , , 9, , , , Running
29) 36, Mario Gosselin, No. 90 BuckedUp Apparel Chevrolet, 192, , , 8, , , , Running
30) 35, Joey Gase, No. 52 Masonry & Precast Specialty Services Chevrolet, 192, , , 7, , , , Running
31) 40, Bobby Earnhardt, No. 40 Copeland Insurance Agency Chevrolet, 188, , , 6, , , , Running
32) 26, BJ McLeod, No. 8 JW Transport LLC Chevrolet, 188, , , 5, , , , Running
33) 38, Spencer Boyd, No. 07 Grunt Style Chevrolet, 188, , , 4, , , , Running
34) 33, Josh Berry, No. 55 March Network Toyota, 182, , , 3, , , , Engine
35) 39, Jennifer Jo Cobb(i), No. 78 Mark One Electric Chevrolet, 139, , , 0, , , , Running
36) 30, Timmy Hill, No. 13 OCR Gaz Bar Dodge, 36, , , 1, , , , Vibration
37) 37, Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Visone RV Chevrolet, 24, , , 1, , , , Suspension
38) 27, Reed Sorenson(i), No. 15 teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, 7, , , 0, , , , Handling
39) 29, Gray Gaulding(i), No. 93 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 3, , , 0, , , , Brakes
40) 25, Jeff Green, No. 38 RSS Racing Chevrolet, 2, , , 1, , , , Handling
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series, (#) Rookie, (P) Playoff driver

Time of Race:02 Hrs, 07 Mins, 31 Secs.
Average Speed:141.158 MPH
Margin of Victory:2.670 Seconds
Race Comments:Christopher Bell won the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway, his first NASCAR XFINITY Series victory. Prior to the green flag, the following cars dropped to the rear of the field under penalty for the reason indicated: Nos. 9, 07, 19 (unapproved adjustments) and 93, 15 (missed driver intros).
Failed to Qualify:(1) 74 Mike Harmon.
Caution Flags:4 for 20 laps: Laps: 47-51 (Stage 1 Conclusion [5]); 78-81 (No. 1 Incident Turn 4 [4]); 92-96 (Stage 2 Conclusion [24]); 139-144 (No. 39 Spin Turn 4 [24]).
Lead Changes:8 among 5 drivers: T. Reddick 0; E. Jones(i) 1-51; T. Reddick 52-54; E. Jones(i) 55-81; R. Blaney(i) 82-84; E. Jones(i) 85-93; T. Dillon(i) 94-97; E. Jones(i) 98-196; C. Bell(i) 197-200.
Coors Light Pole Award: Tyler Reddick, No. 42 181.117 mph
Mahle Clevite Engine Builder of the Race: Hendrick Engines, No. 42
Mobil 1 Driver of the Race: Christopher Bell, No. 18
Sunoco Rookie of the Race: William Byron, No. 9

Ron Fleshman with John Davison

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2017, Issue 10, Posted 8:35 PM, 10.21.2017