Christopher Bell finished ninth in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday.
The top 10 finish for Bell, his first of the year, added 28 points to his season total.
Bell qualified in 15th position at 179.748 mph. The first-year driver does not have a top-10 finish in his career.
Sunday was Bell’s career start at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The Norman, Oklahoma native’s starting and finishing positions compared favorably to his career averages, starting six spots higher than his career mark of 21.3 and completing the race 16 places ahead of his 25.2 career average finish.
Bell battled against a field of 40 drivers on the way to his ninth-place finish. The race endured eight cautions and 52 caution laps. There were 20 lead changes.
Brad Keselowski secured the victory in the race, and Chase Elliott finished second. Ryan Blaney placed third, Kyle Busch secured fourth, and Kevin Harvick finished off the top five.
Alex Bowman grabbed victories in each of the race’s first two stages before Joey Logano took control for a Stage 3 victory.