ROSSBURG, OHIO – Christopher Bell led 22 laps and for a guy with a truck that looked as if it had been hit by, well, a truck, Wednesday night’s ninth-place finish at Eldora Speedway wasn’t anything over which to hang one’s head.
Still, the Kyle Busch Motorsports racer couldn’t help but wonder what could have been after the "Dirt Derby," the Camping World Truck Series one and only annual dirt race.
“The flat tire really killed us,” Bell said after nearly pulling off one of the season’s most impressive comebacks. “You don’t scrub and weave tires here so I didn’t ever do anything to feel it. Then right when we went green I noticed my steering wheel just kind of re-clocked itself. I gave it a tug and, ‘uh-oh, that’s not good.’ Then we went green and it was flat.”
The flat tire occurred with less than 25 laps remaining in the 150-lap race, and Bell lined up second for a restart, alongside leader Stewart Friesen.
Too late to hit pit road, the green flag appeared and Bell had a handful of steering wheel, doing all he could to avoid being run over.
A subsequent caution, one of 10 on the night, allowed him to pit under yellow and remain on the lead lap. But a shot at the win was erased.
A three-time winner this season, Bell won the annual trek to the historic Eldora half-mile in 2015 and was among a handful of favorites heading into Wednesday night’s event.
He was fourth in qualifying and won his qualifying race to earn the fourth starting spot in the 32-truck field.
But after just 36 laps, Bell spun his Toyota in Turn 2 and was broadsided by Kaz Grala. The impact did plenty of damage to the right side of Bell’s truck.
WATCH: Bell spins, wrecks with GralaGrala’s entry was too damaged to continue. Rudy Fugle, Bell’s crew chief, quickly laid out a plan of attack to make repairs and allow his driver to continue. In addition to the toe being knocked out, it was thought that one of the motor mounts had broken, creating a severe vibration.
Bell fell outside the top 20 but stayed on the lead lap. But before too long, he was advancing through the field. Busted truck and all.
By Lap 69 he was back in the top 10; by Lap 90 he was sixth. When Friesen had to pit from the top spot, also with a flat tire, Bell found himself out front.
He led the next 22 laps, from 92-113, before Friesen zipped through the field and back into the lead with fresh tires.
“I ruined it for my guys,” Bell said. “They gave me a great Tundra. I really felt like we had the truck to win there but unfortunately I made a mistake early on that cost us.
“Just miscalculated there on the spin. The lap before I had a lot of grip up in the cushion and it held me really good so I tried to make speed up there … just a little bit too low and slick and spun out.”
Bell wasn’t the only driver with issues – notably points leader Johnny Sauter finished 23rd, seven laps down, after a hole in the radiator necessitated a lengthy pit stop for the GMS Chevrolet team.
RELATED: Sauter, others collected in early wreckAs a result, Sauter now leads Bell by only seven in the points battle. Both have wins and a date in the season-ending playoffs. Sauter is a veteran and the defending series champion. Bell, at 22, is young and eager. And learning.
“It’s just a shame I didn’t realize that,” Bell said of the flat tire. “That’s my fault that I didn’t feel it under the yellow and get it fixed before we went green.”
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