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 It was the first victory for Bell in just his third career start.
Bell's triumph marked back-to-back victories for Kyle Busch
Motorsports in the No. 54 Toyota Tundra at Eldora.
"It's just unbelievable," said Bell in Victory Lane. "I've been
coming here quite a few times and if you would have told me two
years ago that my first win at Eldora was going to be in a truck, I
would have told you you're crazy. This is just fantastic. I'm just
thrilled to be here."
Veteran dirt late model ace Bobby Pierce scored the Keystone Light
Pole Award earlier in the day, giving MB Motorsports, one of the
longest running teams in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, its
first-ever pole. Pierce lost the lead on Lap 1 to John Hunter
Nemechek, but took it back on Lap 2.
Pierce maintained control of the race, until a Lap 42 restart when
Bell, also a dirt veteran, swiped the lead from Pierce in Turn 1.
Bell led through Lap 60.
When Spencer Gallagher spun on lap 53, NASCAR utilized the yellow
flag to serve as the competition caution originally scheduled for
Lap 60, allowing teams to come in for tires and fuel. Brad
Keselowski elected to stay out during the caution, inheriting the
lead alongside Bell for the Lap 61 restart.
Bell quickly slid by Keselowski a lap later and stretched his
advantage by 1.5 seconds until a debris caution on Lap 72 brought
the field to his bumper.
Through the race's then-longest green flag stretch, Bell increased
his lead on Pierce, but when Chris Fontaine spun on Lap 94, it once
again bunched up the field.
On the restart, Pierce attacked Bell and stole the lead on the
backstretch and kept it through a yellow for John Wes Townley on Lap
94. Bell slid in front of Pierce two laps after the restart and held
the point until the end of segment two for the second competition
caution of the night.
Under the yellow, most of the field elected to stay out, setting up
for the start of segment three, a 40-lap dash.
Showcasing his dirt track skills, Bell checked out from the field
with Pierce, Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick chasing. The
opportunity to pull away would be denied when the 11th caution flag
of the night waved.
Chasing his first career win in his truck series debut, Pierce
stalking Bell for the lead, made contact with the Turn 4 wall with
about 15 laps remaining, causing significant rear-end damage. Even
with a battered truck, Pierce stayed on the throttle. The challenge
for the lead would be slowed with 11 laps remaining when Timothy
Peters went for a solo spin in Turn 2.
A five-lap sprint to the finish set up for the winner of the
1-800-CAR-CASH Mud Summer Classic with Bell and Pierce up front on
the restart.
Bell would accelerate hard, while a slow restart for Pierce put him
in the clutches of Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick. Pierce escaped
them and set his sights on Bell.
When Korbin Forrister spun with two laps to go, the drama meter
pegged even more, setting up for a green-white-checkered finish.
On the final restart of the night, Bell refused to give up the race
lead and withstood an attempted pass by Pierce on the last lap to
earn the win.
"I'll tell you that's pretty awesome that Bobby and I could come
here and run 1-2," added Bell. "I never heard of him until I was at
a sprint car race last year and he was running his late model. It's
pretty cool that a couple of dirt guys could run 1-2 at a dirt race
track."
Tyler Reddick finished third ahead of Erik Jones and Daniel Hemric.
Inaugural Eldora winner Austin Dillon was sixth followed by
Nemechek, Cameron Hayley, Matt Crafton and Ty Dillon.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series returns to action on Aug. 1 at
Pocono (Pa.) Raceway for the running of the Pocono Mountains 150 (1
p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1).
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race -- 1-800-CarCash Mud Summer
Classic
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, Ohio
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
1. (4) Christopher Bell, Toyota, 154, $37273.
2. (1) Bobby Pierce, Chevrolet, 154, $27697.
3. (5) Tyler Reddick, Ford, 154, $23646.
[to top of second column] |
4. (19) Erik Jones #, Toyota, 154, $18870.
5. (17) Daniel Hemric #, Chevrolet, 154, $16430.
6. (10) Austin Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 154, $13086.
7. (2) John H. Nemechek #, Chevrolet, 154, $14794.
8. (9) Cameron Hayley #, Toyota, 154, $14745.
9. (12) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 154, $15695.
10. (15) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 154, $13346.
11. (3) Ken Schrader, Toyota, 154, $12347.
12. (27) Ben Kennedy, Toyota, 154, $14548.
13. (6) Tyler Young, Chevrolet, 154, $14498.
14. (20) John Wes Townley, Chevrolet, 154, $14450.
15. (23) Ray Black Jr. #, Chevrolet, 154, $15000.
16. (21) Chris Fontaine, Chevrolet, 154, $12100.
17. (18) Spencer Gallagher #, Chevrolet, 154, $14302.
18. (30) Jody Knowles, Ford, 154, $14252.
19. (13) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 154, $14050.
20. (25) Sean Corr, Ford, 154, $12251.
21. (22) Matt Tifft, Toyota, 154, $13952.
22. (7) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 153, $13902.
23. (8) Timothy Peters, Toyota, 153, $13853.
24. (16) Korbin Forrister #, Chevrolet, 153, $12554.
25. (26) Cody Erickson, Chevrolet, 153, $11654.
26. (32) Wendell Chavous, Chevrolet, 152, $12456.
27. (29) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 151, $11406.
28. (11) Brad Keselowski(i), Ford, 144, $11063.
29. (38) Cole Custer, Chevrolet, 136, $10964.
30. (28) Travis Kvapil, Chevrolet, Accident, 119, $10464.
31. (14) Chad Boat, Chevrolet, Accident, 110, $8964.
32. (31) Stewart Hayward, RAM, Engine, 79, $7964.
Average Speed of Race Winner: 44.602 mph.
Time of Race: 1 Hrs, 43 Mins, 35 Secs. Margin of Victory: 0.761
Seconds.
Caution Flags: 13 for 61 laps.
Lead Changes: 9 among 4 drivers.
Lap Leaders: B. Pierce 0; J. Nemechek # 1; B. Pierce 2-5; A.
Dillon(i) 6-12; B. Pierce 13-22; A. Dillon(i) 23; B. Pierce 24-41;
C. Bell 42-98; B. Pierce 99-105; C. Bell 106-154.
Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): C. Bell 2 times for
106 laps; B. Pierce 4 times for 39 laps; A. Dillon(i) 2 times for 8
laps; J. Nemechek # 1 time for 1 lap.
Top 10 in Points: M. Crafton -- 452; T. Reddick -- 438; E. Jones #
-- 428; J. Sauter -- 381; J. Townley -- 360; C. Hayley # -- 351; D.
Hemric # -- 347; T. Peters -- 343; S. Gallagher # -- 335; B. Kennedy
-- 329.
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