Christopher Bell defeats Sheldon Creed in overtime to win Xfinity Series race at New Hampshire
For the fourth time in his career and fourth time in four attempts, Christopher Bell is a winner at New Hampshire in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Bell took a couple of seasons off from racing in the Xfinity Series at the Magic Mile, but he came back and picked up where he left off.
Christopher Bell should probably be the favorite for the Cup Series race tomorrow. This race began on wet-weather tires, which we could see tomorrow as well. It would end with tons of green flag racing on slicks and eventually a bunch of caution flags in the end.
This weekend started out a little embarrassing, but this win will more than make up for it. Bell is four for four at New Hampshire.
An overtime win and he did it in dramatic fashion. Once again heartbreak for Sheldon Creed as he comes home P2. He has been so close to getting that first career win, but he will have to wait some more. It is the 10th time he has finished second in an Xfinity race.
Sam Mayer takes the first stage
After his win at Iowa, Sam Mayer came out in the New Hampshire race and was looking for points. He had his own issues throughout the race. Mainly, his radio was beeping annoyingly throughout much of the race.
Mayer was able to take the first stage, bank 10 points and a playoff point. Unfortunately for Mayer, he wouldn’t be able to keep the pace throughout the race. He fell off and had to fight to remain in the top-10.
Good news, with two wins on the year, that playoff point was major. Mayer needs to just focus on ramping up for the playoffs and winning stages is where that starts.
Christopher Bell finds his groove
It didn’t take long for Christopher Bell to find his groove at New Hampshire. He won three races in the Xfinity Series in a row at the Magic Mile. He has a Cup and Truck win at the track as well. It’s his bread and butter.
These flat-mile tracks are what Bell likes. Joe Gibbs Racing was dominating this race for much of it. Bell, Justin Bonsignore was great in his debut, Chandler Smith, and Sheldon Creed were all up front.
Bell won the stage with Bonsignore P2. A strong showing from the Modified champion in his debut. This race would get very interesting before it was over. A lot of green flag laps, but a late caution just when it was needed.
Late-race chaos leads the way for Bell to win
I’ll be honest, the long green flag runs were mundane. New Hampshire puts on a good platform for racing. Drivers can pass, it is wider than many short tracks. But it isn’t necessarily the most exciting racing on the NASCAR circuit.
With less than 100 laps to go in this race, things started to ramp up. Once there were fewer than 50 laps, the aggression was obvious. These young Xfinity Series drivers get after it late in these races and at times, it leads to a flurry of caution flags.
This race almost fell apart late. Caution after caution after caution. It went from “wow this was needed” to “okay, let’s clean it up a bit.” Tire strategies from drivers like Carson Kvapil put them in contention late. For the most part, Christopher Bell and Cole Custer were the story of today’s race.
On the final restart, Bell, Creed, and Custer went three wide. It looked dicey for a moment. Eventually, the Cup Series regular got the better of his opponents and drove away. Another Magic Mile victory for Bell in the Xfinity Series. A masterful performance.