Posted in NASCAR Xfinity Series

Christopher Bell Dominates Foggy Xfinity Race at Atlanta

   February 23, 2019

After a day filled with mist and fog, Christopher Bell had the car to beat leading all but 21 of the 163 laps. It was the 9th win of Bell’s Xfinity Series career, and his first at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He’s also the first Xfinity Series regular to win at Atlanta since Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2012. The win also marks the first for the new Toyota Supra car.

Bell won the first two stages handily, but the final stage didn’t come easy for the Norman, Oklahoma native. During green flag pit stops, Bell had a 1.5 second lead and came to pit a lap or so later than the other front runners. After a miscue on the right front, Bell fell to third place behind Reddick and Justin Allgaier. In a show of how strong of a car he really had, Bell was able to re-take the lead within just three laps.

The only caution of the day besides the two stage cautions came with less than 10 laps to go. John Hunter Nemechek spun off of Turn 2 after running in the Top-10 all day. It could not have come at a worse time for Tyler Reddick as his car was best in the long run and he was ready to pounce on Christopher Bell. Reddick then lost many positions on pit road when the air hose got caught on his right front fender. That put Bell and teammate Jeffrey Earnhardt on the front row for the final restart with 3 laps to go.

Earnhardt spun the tires and left Cole Custer to chase Bell for the win. When the #20 team noticed that Custer was catching him on the high side, Bell adjusted and rode up high in the final lap to take the checkered flag.

Among the notable finishes, Jeffrey Earnhardt earned his first career Xfinity Series Top-10 finish with a 6th place run. He’s set to run a partial schedule with Joe Gibbs Racing and was running in the Top-5 late in the race until the final restart. Ryan Sieg was passing cars like Team Penske’s Austin Cindric and Kaulig Racing’s Justin Haley up in the Top-10, but came home 11th. And Brandon Brown held on to the lead lap for the majority of the race and earned his best career finish at 13th.

Unofficial results:

FnSt#DriverMakeLapsStatus
1320Christopher BellToyota163Running
2100Cole CusterFord163Running
377Justin AllgaierChevy163Running
4919Brandon JonesToyota163Running
5122Tyler ReddickChevy163Running
6818Jeffrey EarnhardtToyota163Running
768Ryan Preece (i)Chevy163Running
81311Justin HaleyChevy163Running
949Noah GragsonChevy163Running
10522Austin CindricFord163Running
111839Ryan SiegChevy163Running
12161Michael AnnettChevy163Running
131186Brandon BrownChevy163Running
14154Ross ChastainChevy163Running
152898Chase BriscoeFord162Running
163508Gray GauldingChevy162Running
17220Garrett SmithleyChevy162Running
181751Jeremy ClementsChevy162Running
192390Alex LabbeChevy162Running
201023John Hunter NemechekChevy162Running
211936Josh WilliamsChevy161Running
222117Bayley Currey (i)Chevy159Running
232007Ray Black IIChevy159Running
242915BJ McLeodChevy159Running
253001Stephen LeichtChevy159Running
26242Chad FinchumToyota158Running
272752David StarrChevy158Running
283366Timmy HillToyota157Running
293235Joey GaseToyota156Running
30255Matt MillsChevy154Running
312499Tommy Joe MartinsToyota152Running
321478Vinnie MillerChevy94Transmission
333674Mike HarmonChevy90Electrical
342638Josh BilickiChevy87Ignition
353789Morgan ShepherdChevy45Brakes
363193Jeff GreenChevy42Vibration
373413John JacksonToyota14Suspension

Author: Tom Bailey

Tom Bailey (@TomBaileyScoop) grew up in the backyard of Chicagoland Speedway, making a passion for all motorsports inevitable. Tom is entering his first full year of racing coverage in 2020 as the owner and founder of InfieldScoop.com. You can contact him at [email protected]