RACE: Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400
TRACK: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
START: 35th
FINISH: 12th
LAPS: 160 laps

Bell Finishes 12th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Stage 1 Recap (Laps 1-50)

• Christopher Bell started 35th at Indianapolis Motor Speedway based on a random draw.
• Bell worked his way up to 23rd by lap 12 when NASCAR issued a competition caution for the field.
• A multi-car incident unfolded towards the start of pit road as one car checked up causing an accordion effect for the cars behind it. Bell was a part of the melee and suffered some damage to his No. 95 Rheem Toyota Camry.
• NASCAR issued a red flag to clean up the multi-car pileup on pit road and to tend to an injured pit crew member from another team.
• The No. 95 team was able to assess to the damage under the red flag and formulate a plan to get the car fixed up and back on the track. Once the red flag was lifted, they repaired the car and kept Bell on the lead lap.
• The team took the strategy to stay towards the back of the field and save fuel to finish stage one.
• Stage one concluded on lap 50 with Bell running 24th.

Stage 2 Recap (Laps 56-100)

• Bell started 12th and finished ninth in stage two.
• Bell started 12th on lap 56 and was up to eighth on lap 57. While running eighth, Bell pitted under yellow on lap 77 for four tires and fuel.
• The field took the green with 18 laps remaining in stage two. Bell restarted 12th and worked his way up to ninth to finish stage two.
• Bell stayed out and didn’t pit at the stage break which cycled him up to fourth to start the final stage at the Brickyard.

Stage 3 Recap (Laps 104-161)

• Bell started stage three fourth and crossed the finish line 12th.
• Right from the start of the final stage, Bell reported to his team that his car was “too tight to fire.”
• Bell came down pit road on lap 123 under green while running fourth for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment.
• Under caution on lap 132 others on different pit strategies pitted and Bell cycled up to third for the restart with 22 laps remaining.
• Bell slipped back to sixth but settled in there when the caution was back out on the track as another car took a hard hit into the outside wall after a blown right-front tire. Bell had a bad vibration on his No. 95 Rheem Toyota so crew chief Jason Ratcliff called him in for a four tire pit stop.
• The race went into overtime and Bell took the final green flag 15th and gained a couple positions to cross the finish line 12th at Indianapolis.

Up Next: The NASCAR Cup Series finishes heads to Kentucky Speedway for the Quaker State 400 on Sunday, July 12th. The race will be broadcast at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS1.