Christopher Bell rallied to gain the lead by inches as the white flag waved — and seconds before a final yellow flag that gave him the win under caution — in Friday night’s WinstarOnlineGaming.com 400 Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Bell was side-by-side with Chase Briscoe as they closed in on Lap 166 to take the white flag. But as they crossed the start-finish line, Bell had an advantage of just a few inches.
About two seconds later, the caution came out after a scary wreck on the frontstretch involving Austin Wayne Self and Timothy Peters, bringing out a red flag race stoppage. When the race resumed under caution about four minutes later, NASCAR brought the field around under caution, past the wreckage and awarded Bell the victory.
MORE: Race results from WinstarOnlineGaming.com 400
MORE: Camping World Truck Series driver standings after Texas
It was Bell’s second win in this season’s first seven Camping World Truck Series races and his fourth career Trucks victory. Had Briscoe — who finished second — won, it would have been his first career Truck win.
“It was close, I know that much,” Briscoe told FS1. “It was a fun race, an awesome race. Christopher and I are really good friends. It was fun to put on a show with him. Definitely wanted to get the win, but we’re going to St. Louis next weekend and see if we can the the win.”
Ryan Truex finished third, followed by Grant Enfinger, Ben Rhodes, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson, Johnny Sauter, Matt Crafton and Kaz Grala.
The race-deciding incident was triggered when Self got loose on the front straightaway, hit the outside wall, bounced back towards the infield and Peters had nowhere to go.
Peters’ truck slammed into Self’s and then went end over-end, landing upside down. Once the truck was righted, Peters emerged under his own power and was taken to the infield medical center. Peters finished 12th.
It was Peters’ first start for MDM Motorsports. He previously raced for Red Horse Racing, which suspended operations after last month’s race at Charlotte due to lack of sponsorship.
HOW BELL WON: It doesn’t get much closer than the way Bell won, by mere inches when he crossed the start-finish line just ahead of Briscoe going into the final lap before the race finished under caution. Bell led more than half of the laps (92 of 167).
WHO ELSE HAD A GOOD RACE: Briscoe was oh, so close to his first career Truck win. He only led seven laps but if the race had not been impacted by the final caution, Briscoe had a truck that may have beaten Bell if the race finished under green. … Grant Enfinger also had a strong third-place run.
WHO HAD A BAD RACE: A number of drivers were involved in wrecks that ended their evenings early, including Austin Cindric, Jordan Anderson, Myatt Snider, John Hunter Nemechek, Cody Coughlin and Kaz Grala.
NOTABLE: Johnny Sauter won Stage 1, while Bell won Stage 2. … Noah Gragson had quite the day. He officially graduated from high school, won the pole and finished seventh.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We’re in victory lane. It’s just a dream come true to be able to win here in Texas, my hometown.” – Race winner Christopher Bell.
WHAT’S NEXT: Gateway 200, Saturday June 17, 8:30 p.m. ET, Gateway Motorsports Park; Madison, Illinois.
