{"id":11666,"date":"2017-07-29T22:02:10","date_gmt":"2017-07-30T03:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=11666"},"modified":"2017-07-30T17:34:26","modified_gmt":"2017-07-30T22:34:26","slug":"christopher-bell-grabs-fourth-win-of-2017-with-truck-series-victory-at-pocono-raceway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2017\/07\/29\/christopher-bell-grabs-fourth-win-of-2017-with-truck-series-victory-at-pocono-raceway\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Bell grabs fourth win of 2017 with Truck Series victory at Pocono Raceway"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

LONG POND, Pa. \u2013 With his boss out of the race, Christopher Bell<\/strong> filled the void, pulling away to win the Overton\u2019s 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series<\/a> race on Saturday at Pocono Raceway.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Christopher Bell, driver of the #4 SiriusXM Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overton’s 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 29, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Bell overtook John Hunter Nemechek on Lap 54 of 60 at the 2.5-mile triangular track and finished 1.964 seconds ahead of runner-up Ben Rhodes, who passed Nemechek for the second position on Lap 56.<\/span><\/p>\n

One circuit later Ryan Truex took the third spot from Nemechek, who held on to fourth at the finish.<\/span><\/p>\n

The victory was Bell\u2019s first at Pocono, his fourth of the season and the sixth of his career \u2013 and it gave him the series points lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kyle Busch, Bell\u2019s team owner at Kyle Busch Motorsports, won the first two 15-lap stages, but moments after the restart that began the green-flag portion of the final stage on Lap 36, Busch\u2019s No. 51 Toyota was wiped out by contact from Justin Haley\u2019s Chevrolet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Christopher Bell, driver of the #4 SiriusXM Toyota, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overton’s 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 29, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

After one more caution and the final restart on Lap 45, it took Bell nine laps to race from fifth to the lead. After battling side-by-side with Nemechek for two laps, Bell gained momentum through the Tunnel Turn and made the winning pass in Turn 3, after struggling to clear the No. 8 Chevrolet down the long frontstretch on the previous circuit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only real passes that I made down the front straightaway were whenever they gave it to me,\u201d Bell said. \u201cIt was pretty tough, because I wasn\u2019t good enough with the side-draft to stall the guy beside me and clear him by the time I got to Turn 1. I looked up in my mirror, and whenever I got side-by-side (with Nemechek) we were just bringing all those guys behind us with us.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Christopher Bell, driver of the #4 SiriusXM Toyota, celebrates winning with a burnout during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overton’s 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 29, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI was just trying to figure out where we were going to beat him at, and, thankfully, I showed enough nose to where he couldn\u2019t get to the bottom of the Tunnel Turn, and it screwed up his exit out of (Turn) 2.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, it was clean air that made the difference for Bell.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely who could get in front on the restarts,\u201d said Rhodes, who spent the last three laps breaking the draft with the pursuing Truex, taking Truex\u2019s line and blocking the No. 16 Tundra.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was doing everything in my wheelhouse to keep him behind me,\u201d Rhodes said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Christopher Bell, driver of the #4 SiriusXM Toyota, places the winner’s sticker on his truck after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overton’s 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 29, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jerry Markland\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

Truex was keenly aware of the second-place finisher\u2019s tactics but said he would have done the same thing if the positions had been reversed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTrack position was extremely big,\u201d said Truex, who posted the second-best finish of his Truck Series career, one spot short of the runner-up result he posted in last year\u2019s season opener at Daytona. \u201cOnce we got single file, it was really hard to pass. There was a lot of blocking.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating that we\u2019re this good and this close, but it\u2019s great that we\u2019re continuing to have good runs like this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bell leaves Pocono with an 18-point lead in the standings over defending champion Johnny Sauter, who started from the rear of the field because of unapproved adjustments to his No. 21 Chevrolet and finished fifth.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s really special \u2013 I\u2019m just so thankful to be able to drive this thing,\u201d Bell said of assuming the series lead. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true to be able to compete in the NASCAR series and to be able to drive for Toyota and Kyle Busch Motorsports. It\u2019s just a dream come true.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Note: The No. 52 truck of Stewart Friesen, which finished 12th in the race, was found in post-race inspection to be missing one lug nut. Any potential penalties will be announced next week.<\/span><\/p>\n

For race results, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Media Center Interviews:<\/h3>\n

Christopher  Bell – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/PC_NCWTS_Bell_Fugle_072917.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Rhodes and Ryan Truex – <\/p>\nhttp:\/\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/PC_NCWTS_Rhodes_Truex_072917.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Christopher Bell, driver of the #4 SiriusXM Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overton’s 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 29, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

LONG POND, PA – JULY 29: Ben Rhodes, driver of the #27 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota, leads the field to the green flag during the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Overton’s 150 at Pocono Raceway on July 29, 2017 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service LONG POND, Pa. \u2013 With his boss out of the race, Christopher Bell filled the void, pulling away to win the Overton\u2019s 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Saturday at Pocono Raceway. Bell overtook John Hunter Nemechek on Lap 54 of 60 at the 2.5-mile triangular track […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11674,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[451,16,160,252],"class_list":["post-11666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-christopher-bell","tag-nascar","tag-nascar-camping-world-truck-series","tag-pocono-raceway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/PC_NCWTS_VictoryLane_072917.jpg?fit=4232%2C2752&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-32a","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11666"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11677,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11666\/revisions\/11677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}