LONG POND, Pa. — For a moment, Christopher Bell and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team seemed set to achieve the improbable.
Instead, a risky fuel gamble in The Great American Getaway 400 resulted in a 26th-place finish for Bell in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway.
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Crew chief Adam Stevens last brought his driver to pit road at Lap 107 of 160, attempting to stretch the fuel tank from an estimated 42-lap window to a whopping 53-lap run to the finish. Stevens and spotter Tab Boyd coached Bell through the closing 50 laps, urging Bell to conserve gasoline while maintaining a competitive pace. But Bell was overtaken for the lead by teammate Denny Hamlin with four laps remaining before ultimately running his fuel tank dry as the field took the white flag.
“It was kind of optimistic for a minute,” Bell said. “But before we went green out of that final green-flag run, he (Stevens) was making it sound like there was no way we’re gonna make it. So whenever we got to 20 laps or so left, like, okay, 17 seconds (over Hamlin for the lead), and it’s like, okay, are we racing for the win, or are we racing to finish the race? And I don’t know. I just tried to do what he was telling me to do. He’s got the SMT data on what my throttle percentage is, what the RPMs are, so just didn’t have enough.”
Prior to Bell’s strategy gamble, the No. 20 car was mired outside the top 20 for much of the afternoon. With less to lose, that helped make Stevens’ decision to take the risk easier.
“Well, we just sucked all day, and we were going to run 18th to 25th,” Stevens told NASCAR.com. “And that opportunity presented itself, and honestly, we were hoping for a caution early in that run. And we didn’t get it, and then we decided just to save and see how close we could get. And when you’re saving that hard, we don’t really have a great way to really know for sure how we’re doing, so it was worth a shot. Just a lap and a quarter short.”
His Pocono drive was also complicated by Bell’s fractured left wrist, which he sustained in a vicious crash one week prior at Michigan International Speedway. Bell wore a sleek black cast molded as closely as possible to fit his steering-wheel grip as the No. 20 team worked to make his interior more comfortable given any new physical restrictions. NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Brandon Jones was on standby if Bell needed relief, but Bell completed all 400 miles.
“My wrist is fine whenever I’m by myself,” Bell said, “but certainly, any sort of adverse conditions — like whenever I banged (doors) with the 21 or whoever getting into (Turn) 3 and then they wrecked in front of me, like I just don’t really have the ability to make sharp, quick corrections to the car. So whenever I run by myself and we got single-filed out, I felt like it didn’t bother me, but I certainly think it affected our restarts.”
Bell said he had no pain in his wrist following Sunday’s race despite the in-race difficulties, but any decisions about potential changes for next week’s race on the street course at Naval Base Coronado will be reserved for the days ahead.
Bell was running second at the time of his crash at Michigan and this week was running fourth when he ultimately ran out of fuel. The finishes to show for those two races: 31st and 26th.
“This whole year has just been hard on all of us,” Stevens said. “And then you throw in an injury with another good car last week, and it’s not easy on him, it’s not easy on the team. And to put that aside and do your job physically is one accomplishment, and then mentally is another. So, like I said on the pace laps, he’s a tough cookie. He’s got his mind focused on the right things, and eventually it’ll turn our way.”
In the two races before Michigan, Bell and Co. earned consecutive runner-up finishes at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway. That helps spark some optimism, but the weight of not winning still carries midway through June.
“The year just hasn’t gone our way. Whatever the future holds, it holds,” Bell said. “I feel confident that our time will come. Adam’s doing a great job calling the races and giving me really fast race cars. I feel like I can drive good whenever everything’s right, and we’ll see what happens.”