Christopher Bell Explains How He Beat Brad Keselowski’s Last Lap Bristol Bump-And-Run
Christopher Bell booked his ticket to the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with a brilliant late drive at Bristol in what was a chaotic race.
He only led 12 of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race’s 500 laps, but managed to stay out front for the last one, despite an aggressive move by second-place finisher Brad Keselowski.
Unexpected fall-off and failure dictated the race as drivers struggled to adjust strategy and NASCAR elected to add an extra set of tires mid-race to help them deal with it. Bell had a fresh set of outside tires at the end and Keselowski had four as he tracked him down.
Coming into Turn Three on the final lap Keselowski went for a bump and run with a big hit to Bell’s bumper that should’ve moved him out of the way and opened up the door for a pass, but didn’t.
During his post-race press conference, Bell explained that it was more than luck. “To be honest, I expected it. He ran me down from however long it was, three car lengths, four car lengths. Those last three laps, they were not my prettiest three laps I’ve run in my career, but it was good enough to get to the checkered flag first,’ the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said.
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“I knew he was going to be really aggressive, really hungry. I knew his team had a bummer start to the year, but they’ve been performing well and been on the brink of Victory Lane and they were again tonight, so I knew he was going to throw everything at it.”
Both cars moved up the track a little coming through Turn Four after the hit, but Bell managed to hold his line without losing too much momentum or spinning.
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“I don’t really remember. I think I backed my corner up a little bit just trying to stay under the tires a little bit more. Those last three laps I got the lead and then we were on right sides, and I guess I just had less grip than I was anticipating and I could not get my car to stick around the bottom,” Bell said.
“I tried to stay under the tires and give me a little bit more room so whenever he hit me I could not spin out and crash, so yeah, it worked out.”
The win was Bell’s fourth of the season, second most to teammate Denny Hamlin’s five, and 13th of his career. He heads into the Round of 8 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where he won last year, in fourth place behind Hamlin, William Byron and Kyle Larson, followed by Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain and Tyler Reddick.