By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Christopher Bell and Erik Jones haven’t raced together much. In fact, their one notable battle ended up with Bell in the outside wall in the 2015 Winchester 400.
“Really we haven’t raced against each other that much or maybe we’ve been in the same race, but we haven’t been around each other on the race track,” Bell said Saturday. “The one other time that I can relate racing against him would be at Winchester for the Winchester 400 and me and Erik were one-two all day long and really me and him were the class of the field.
“I ended up getting into the wall with 30 or 40 to go and let him win the race. I guess it’s kind of ironic how that works out, but we haven’t really raced around each other too much and just from watching him, he’s one of the greats coming up.”
That lack of experience together may have been a played a part in the events that transpired in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300, when Bell dove under Jones going into Turn 3 on Lap 197 of 200 before rising up in front of the Michigander in a move that led to significant contact for both drivers.
Unable to stop his momentum, Jones rammed into the back of Bell, sending both drivers into the outside wall.
That just happened. 😳 pic.twitter.com/1Hb8lG1tv8
— NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts (@NASCAROReillyAP) October 21, 2017
Bell continued on to claim his first NASCAR XFINITY Series win. Jones free-falled back with significant damage to his No. 20 Toyota before finishing a lap down in 15th.
Naturally, Jones was the more upset of the two drivers.
“I mean it’s not dirt racing, you know,” Jones said afterward. “He’s not clear. I can’t just stop on the top. I mean he was – I didn’t expect him just to drive in on the bottom so far, he wouldn’t be able to hold his lane. It’s unfortunate.
“The Reser’s Camry was really good and I thought we were going to race for the win and unfortunately it wasn’t much of a race. It was more of a wreck.”
In mentioning dirt racing, Jones harkened back to Bell’s pre-NASCAR experience in dirt midget and sprint cars. Bell, 22, still competed in dirt on a part-time basis, running events with USAC and the World of Outlaws among others. The Camping World Truck Series points leader won the Chili Bowl Nationals midget race last winter in his home state Oklahoma.
Bell confirmed in his post-race pressure that he intends to apologize, but also defended his move, saying “I’m going to apologize and it sucks that we couldn’t race it out or that he didn’t finish the race. I don’t know man, I cleared him there. We were both on old tires and we were both sliding around.”
While he hated that blow to his teammate’s title hopes, Bell was filled with happiness after realizing a long-time dream.
“It’s my first XFINITY win, I’m sorry that Erik (Jones) couldn’t finish the race, but I’m just stoked,” Bell said. “This thing was just awesome – this JBL Toyota Camry was absolutely outstanding and I’m really thankful to be a part of this Joe Gibbs Racing foundation. It’s a dream to be here and to be able to win in the XFINITY Series. It’s something that I dreamed of as a kid and I’m just really excited about that.
“For the amount of races that I’ve ran and won, this has been the best year of my career,” Bell later continued. “For me personally, the Chili Bowl will always be my number one because I grew up in Oklahoma and that’s what racing meant for me and for my career, there is no question that this is the biggest win of my career so far.”
Bell will compete full-time in the XFINITY Series for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2018, where he’s likely to see Jones on a much more consistent basis.
Cheesedick move. Doubt that Jones will pay him back though, he’s got too much class for that. But he should dump Bell first chance he gets, without making it quite so obvious as the current occupant of the 20 did.