Christopher Bell dominated Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Rinnai 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway for his first win of the season.
Bell swept the opening two stages and led 142 of the 163 laps en route to his ninth career win. It also marked Toyota’s 15oth Xfinity win and the first for the new Supra model.
“It’s really special to become the first driver to win in a Supra,” Bell said. “You don’t get to be a first timer very often.
“It means a lot to be able to come over here and win in the second race and what I call the first true race of the season. Hopefully it means something and we can build on this and try and help our long run speed.”
Cole Custer, who started from the pole, came from fifth to finish second on the final restart on Lap 161 driving the Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.
“That was a fun race,” Custer said. “I thought the end was pretty good. I thought I might get it for a second. We just didn’t have enough there and Bell kind of took my line there in the last lap.”
Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones and defending Xfinity champion Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five.
Jeffrey Earnhardt, who restarted next to Bell on the final restart, finished sixth in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for his career-best Xfinity Series finish.
“I hate we got stuck on the outside on that last restart,” Earnhardt said. “Restarts are really hard on the outside here, but the Toyota Supra was super fast today. These guys put me in a heck of a car. We came up short on the win, but we showed we belong here and we’re going to run up front the rest of the races.”
Justin Haley (eighth) was the highest finishing rookie.
Bell now leads the standings by 4 points over Jones.
