Christopher Bell – No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry TRD Preview – EchoPark 500 Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas

No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry TRD News and Notes:

  • Circuit of the Americas: The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) heads to Austin, TX for Circuit of the Americas (COTA), a 3.426-mile road course made up of 20 turns. The series first visited COTA in 2021 and raced in the rain. Bell qualified his No. 20 Toyota TRD Camry 10th but was collected in an accident in stage two, ending his race early.
  • Road Course History: In 2021 Bell won the second race of the season on the road course at Daytona International Speedway.  He also earned a second-place finish at Road America and a seventh-place finish at Watkins Glen.  In 2019, Bell competed in four NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) road course events, earning his first road course victory at Road America and second-place finishes at both Watkins Glen and Mid-Ohio. 
  • Atlanta Recap: Bell started back in the field since qualifying was cancelled due to rain but worked his way forward throughout the race at the new track at Atlanta Motor Speedway. While battling inside the top three Bell got pushed below the white line and was penalized post-race. Bell crossed the finish line second but due to the penalty was scored the last car on the lead lap and credited with a 23rd-place finish.
  • Joe Gibbs Racing at COTA: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has four combined starts at COTA, with 15 total laps led and one top-10 finish. JGR has an average starting position of 12.5 and an average finish of 24.3 at the road course. 
  • RACE INFO: The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix 500 at COTA begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 27, 2022. The race will be broadcast live on FOX, Sirius XM 90, and PRN Radio.

 

From the Cockpit:

Christopher Bell: “COTA is an awesome venue. Qualifying last year was the only time we touched the track when it was dry and there were high speed sections, low speed sections a little bit of everything. I was fortunate enough to test there in January last year in a Trans Am car and fell in love with the facility and racetrack. I think these Next Gen cars are going to do really well on the road course. There are a lot of high-speed straightaways into slow corners which is always a passing zone and a couple rhythm sections. It’s going to be interesting because we don’t have any race experience there in the dry but I think you are going to be able to pass if you are faster than the car in front of you.”

JGR PR