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FORT WORTH, Texas — Judging by the finishing positions, Christopher Bell did everything expected of a rookie competing in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series.
In his first three starts driving the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 4 Toyota, the 21-year-old had no finish better than 16th and was 22nd in points to start the 2016 season.
So how is it that 17 races later, Bell finds himself second in points and one of the favorites to advance into the Championship Round for the inaugural Camping World Truck Series Chase?
Those early finishes, he said, didn’t tell the entire story.
“The first three races of the year I’d actually consider ourselves pretty strong,” Bell said Thursday at Texas Motor Speedway, site of tomorrow night’s Striping Technology 350 (8:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). “We crossed the start/finish line at Daytona in position to win the race; we were leading the race in Atlanta with eight or nine (laps) to go. Then at Martinsville obviously we struggled.”
The turnaround came after the first long break for the series, with Bell finishing in the top 10 in three consecutive races (Kansas, Dover and Charlotte). He earned his second career win in the series at Gateway Motorsports Park, and he hasn’t finished worse than sixth in his last six starts.
“I think if we continue to bring fast trucks like we have been the past couple of weeks and I don’t make rookie mistakes like I did at the beginning of the year I think we will be right in the thick of things,” he said.
Johnny Sauter (GMS Racing) leads the points with two races remaining in the three-race segment that will determine who goes on to Homestead to contend for the title. Sauter’s Martinsville victory ensured that the No. 21 truck will be among them.
Bell, Timothy Peters (Red Horse Racing), William Byron (KBM), Matt Crafton (ThorSport Racing) and Ben Kennedy (GMS) round out the remaining Chase drivers.
Although he won his first race in 2015 in just his third start at Eldora Speedway. He ran only seven races for the season. That lack of experience may have made him something of a dark horse when it came to singling out Chase hopefuls for ’16.
On the flip side, he’s driving for KBM, an organization that won the ’15 title with driver Erik Jones and has 54 wins in the series.
“I would say people classify us as a dark horse,” Bell acknowledged. “But my team does not.
“I think people wrote me off after Martinsville the third race of the year because I was making mistakes and we just couldn’t finish races. But luckily with this (Chase) format change — I was actually disappointed with the format change because I felt like being with Kyle Busch Motorsports we would be able to win the championship or at least compete for the championship straight up.
“But looking back on it now, I’m really grateful because it has kept my hopes alive. We started off rocky and rough but we’re gaining and getting better as a team, I’m getting better as a driver, limiting my mistakes.”
The result?
“Here we are with three races to go,” he said, “sitting second in points.”