By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
Under unfortunate circumstances, Christopher Bell had a Craftsman Truck Series race added to his schedule last week.
Following driver Stewart Friesen’s harrowing fireball crash at a Canadian dirt track July 28, Bell was given the call to drive his No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota Friday at Watkins Glen International.
“I had a ton of fun,” Bell said. “I’m sure it looked very weird seeing that No. 52 truck out there without Stewart in it. I’m just happy to give him a good run and get a good finish out of it.”
In his first series start since last year, Bell qualified the truck on the front row alongside Corey Heim.
The two would battle for the top spot throughout the day before a late-race strategy move by Bell and a rash of yellows would push him back in the field.
“It stumbled, we were out of fuel,” he said of the pit stop from the front. “I was surprised how good we were able to get back up through there. One more restart, one more restart.
“I felt like whoever got control of the race between me and the No. 11 [Heim], it was gonna be really hard to pass each other. Whoever got the lead was gonna be it.
“We decided to stay out, the yellows flags came and the race got extended. That’s how it goes sometimes.”
The race went into triple overtime after numerous multi-truck crashes.
“It’s truck racing and you’ll have that,” he said. “It’s a bummer that these races — in the Cup deal you might see the same thing, Xfinity deal might see the same thing – it becomes a full-contact sport whenever you get yellow flags and restarts.”
Still, surviving the treacherous Bus Stop corner in the final three overtimes, Bell advanced to a fourth-place finish.
“I thought it was awesome to see how good this stuff is,” he said. “I remember asking Jimmy [crew chief James Villeneuve] and Stewart what they thought the potential was going to be here. They’re like, ‘Yeah, I think we’ll run top five or so.’
“At one point [the team] said, ‘Checkered or wreckers.’ And I’m like, ‘Eh, well, I want to make sure I get it to the checkered flag.’
“Hopefully they can build on this and do some good with Kaden [Honeycutt] in the next few weeks.”