By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
With a difficult winless season to date for Christopher Bell, one would expect a heartbroken aura after he ran out of fuel with two laps to go Sunday at Pocono Raceway.
Bell’s mood, however, was one of perspective.
The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota quite literally rolled the dice in the final run of the 400-miler, attempting to stretch the fuel tank well past its average consumption rate to score a shock win.
“This was not a woulda’, coulda’, shoulda’,” he said. “I have had a lot of woulda’, coulda’, shoulda’s this year but not this one. That was just a gamble. We ran around 20th all day.”
As the laps tracked downward, so did the position goal for crew chief Adam Stevens. Before running out of fuel, he was betting on a top-five finish.
“It was optimistic for a minute,” Bell said of his chances at stealing the win. “Before we went green on that final run, [Stevens] was making it sound like there was no way we would ever make it. When it got to 20 laps to go, it was like 17 seconds [lead over Hamlin]. And then it’s like, ‘OK, are we racing for the win? Or are we racing to finish the race?”
“I tried to do what he was telling me to do. Just didn’t have enough.”
In the end, Bell crossed the line in 26th after making an emergency pit stop on the final lap. Bell now sits 70 points to the good in the Chase.
But most of all, Bell ran and completed his first race after breaking his wrist last week at Michigan.
“My wrist is fine whenever I am by myself,” he said. “But certainly, any adverse conditions — I don’t really have the ability to make sharp, quick corrections to the car. Whenever I am by myself and we get single-filed out, I felt like it didn’t bother me.”