Christopher Bell will leave Dover International Speedway with a limited-edition Miles the Monster trophy and an extra $100,000 by taking his No. 20 Toyota to victory lane on Saturday. Bell, who led only 44 of the 200 circuits, scored his 11th career win in the series.
“It was a little bit better, but I knew we had a really good Rheem Supra from really the drop of the green flag. I was able to keep pace with them, it was just tough to pass,” said Bell in Victory Lane. “There’s no doubt that he (Cole Custer) was really good. Over that long run there, I felt like I could make gains on him running the top. Last time we were here, the top was really good for me, but it seemed like it rubbered up more and the top was a little less of a disadvantage. Once we got the lead – thank you to my pit crew, they did an outstanding job – it’s really special to be here.”
Bell took the lead away from Cole Custer by being the first driver off pit road during a set of yellow flag stops on lap 156. Custer, who finished fourth in the No. 00 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing, started on the pole and led 155 of the 200 laps – even claiming both stages.
“This place, you can pass on long green flag runs and it’s one of my favorite race tracks because you can move around and kind of find different lines and get going,” Bell continued. “Over the short run, it’s pretty difficult to make it happen because there’s so much grip on the bottom. Just really thankful for everyone at Toyota and TRD too. They’re the ones that have believed in me since day one on the dirt side of things and now here we are holding up my second cardboard check.”
Bell will go into a two-week hiatus for the NASCAR XFINITY Series with six top five and seven top 10 finishes through 10 completed races.
Justin Allgaier finished the day in the runner-up spot after starting the afternoon in second. Allgaier led one lap and sat third in stage one and fourth in stage two in the No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.
The Illinois native will leave the one-mile concrete oval holding four top five and five top 10 finishes this year.
Tyler Reddick, the fifth-place starter on Saturday, rounded out the top three finishers. The Talladega Superspeedway winner last weekend sat fourth in stage one and third in stage two.
Cole Custer and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top five.
Austin Cindric, Brandon Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, Zane Smith and Michael Annett rounded out the top 10.
The next race for the NASCAR XFINITY Series will be at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25th. The Alsco 300 will take place at 1:00 p.m. ET. live on FS1 and PRN Radio.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
- NCTS: Eckes Scores Second Victory of 2024 at Martinsville - April 5, 2024
- NWMT: Justin Bonsignore Noses Ron Silk for 41st Career Victory at Richmond - March 29, 2024
- NCS: William Byron Scores EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Victory in Austin - March 24, 2024