Racing in the Irish Hills: Christopher Bell and the No. 20 Rheem team return to the track this weekend at Michigan International Speedway (MIS) for the LTI Printing 250 and their only stop of the 2018 season at the Jackson, MI facility. Bell will be making his first-career series start in the Irish Hills on Saturday afternoon. Despite being his first NXS start at MIS, Bell is no stranger to success at the 2.0-mile facility, having two starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with one top five, and one top-10 finish to his credit.
Pocono Recap: The NXS took to the track at Pocono Raceway last weekend for race 12 of the 2018 season on Saturday afternoon. With a new race package at Pocono, Bell and his Ruud-Meier Supply team went out on Saturday morning and ran a lap time of 55.864 seconds around the 2.5-mile speedway, good enough for the fifth starting position. After working his way up to as high as second during the first half of the race, Bell got caught in a late-race accident when another competitor hit his right-rear quarter panel causing him to hit the backstretch wall, relegating him and his Ruud team to a 36th-place finish.
Points Update: Following Pocono, Bell and his Rheem team currently sit fourth in the points standings heading into Michigan. However, by virtue of his win at Richmond, Bell and his team have all but secured a spot in the 2018 Xfinity Series Playoffs and have accumulated the most playoff points this season.
Joe Gibbs Racing at Pocono: JGR has 43 NXS starts at MIS and has earned five wins, 18 top-five and 30 top-10 finishes. The championship-winning organization has won two pole awards with an average start of 12.8 and an average finish of 10.3.
RACE INFO: The LTI Printing 250 at Michigan International Speedway begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 9, 2018. The race will be broadcast live on Fox, Sirius XM 90, and MRN Radio.
Bell’s Career NASCAR Xfinity Series Stats at Michigan International Speedway
- Starts -
- Wins -
- Top 5 -
- Top 10 -
- Poles -
- Laps Led -
- Avg. Start -
- Avg. Finish -
Bell’s 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series Season Stats
- Starts - 12
- Wins - 1
- Top 5 - 7
- Top 10 - 7
- Poles - 3
- Laps Led - 193
- Avg. Start - 8.5
- Avg. Finish - 13.0
Bell’s Career NASCAR Xfinity Series Stats
- Starts - 20
- Wins - 2
- Top 5 - 10
- Top 10 - 12
- Poles - 4
- Laps Led - 349
- Avg. Start - 7.6
- Avg. Finish - 12.4
From the Cockpit
“This is the second straight weekend with the new aero package and I’m looking forward to seeing how the race is going to turn out on Saturday. Unfortunately, we got caught up in an accident last weekend at Pocono, but this Rheem team never quits and I know we will bounce back at Michigan. I’ve had some success at Michigan in the truck series, so hopefully some of that can carry over to this weekend, and we can have another great points day and good finish for Rheem and everyone who supports us on this No. 20 team.”
About Rheem (www.rheem.com)
Founded in 1925, Rheem is the only manufacturer in the world that produces heating, cooling, water heating, pool/spa heating and commercial refrigeration products. Rheem is headquartered in Atlanta, and it has an international presence in 14 countries. The company’s premium brands include Rheem, Raypak, Ruud, Eemax, Richmond, Aquamax, Solahart and Splendid, as well as commercial refrigeration brands Russell, Witt, ColdZone and Kramer, which are part of the company’s Heat Transfer Products Group (HTPG) division. To learn more, visit www.Rheem.com.
