Christopher Bell Rings in First Asphalt Win

Making just his third career start in a Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) late model, 19-year-old Christopher Bell picked up his first-career asphalt win in Saturday’s Orange County 150 Pro All Star Series (PASS) South Super Late Model race at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C. Bell, an open-wheel standout with 21 main event wins to date in 2014, battled John Hunter Nemechek for the majority of the 150-lap event and in the end his No. 52 ToyotaCare Camry crossed the finish line 0.803 seconds ahead of the second-generation driver.

 

“I have to thank everyone at Toyota, Toyota Racing Development and Kyle Busch Motorsports for believing in me and giving me this opportunity,” Bell said. “We went asphalt racing for the first time a few weeks back and I really struggled, now to be standing in victory lane tonight and coming out on top against John Hunter Nemechek and all these guys it is unbelievable.”

 

After posting the third fastest time in qualifying, Bell started the race from the second position after the redraw. He quickly worked his way around Jared Irvan and then swapped the lead with Nemechek several times during the first half of the event. The Oklahoma native maneuvered his way around Nemechek for the final time just past the halfway mark and then opened up a sizeable lead as the two encountered lap traffic in the closing stages. Nemechek would close the gap in the final laps, but Bell wouldn’t be denied his first asphalt win and crossed the stripe nearly a second ahead of the second-generation driver.

 

Bell’s teammate Karl Weber drove from the 13th starting position up to the sixth spot early in the race, but a lap-38 accident ended his day and relegated him to a 24th-place finish in his KBM debut.

 

The win marked KBM’s second PASS victory of the season, with Kyle Busch winning the PASS North event in August at Autodrome Chaudiere in Valle-Junction, Quebec, Canada. It was KBM’s sixth Super Late Model triumph overall this season, with Busch winning at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis (Ind.) and Kalamazoo (Mich.) Speedway, while Erik Jones picked up victories at the Milwaukee (Wis.) Mile and Winchester (Ind.) Speedway.

 

KBM PR