Christopher Bell won Saturday’s Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading the final 18 laps to score his second victory of the season.
Bell led 57 laps and beat Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer, Chase Briscoe and John Hunter Nemechek.
With the win, Bell also claimed the first $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus of the year. He was competing for the bonus against Reddick, Briscoe and Michael Annett.
Bell had to pass Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brandon Jones, who stayed out of the pits under the last caution, to take the lead for the final time.
“That’s pretty cool to get my first win here with the Dash 4 Cash bonus,” Bell told FS1. “Joe Gibbs Racing has a really, really good package here at Bristol, but for whatever reason we struggled to find that. It didn’t feel good basically all of practice. Didn’t qualify good and as soon as the green flag dropped for the race I was really loose. The longer the runs went, the better I got.”
Bell, Reddick, Custer and Briscoe will now compete for another $100,000 bonus next weekend at Richmond Raceway.
“Cardboard checks are my favorite trophies,” Bell said. “I’ve got a couple of them from the dirt races, but none of them say a hundred grand so that’s pretty cool.”
"The cardboard checks, man. That's my jam right there. You get them in the Dash 4 Cash races. I want one of those really bad. A 100 grand cardboard check would be by far the biggest I have."@CBellRacing on the @NASCARonNBC Podcast in January.
— Nate Ryan (@nateryan) April 6, 2019
He got it today. #nascar pic.twitter.com/Y8WMDiGBfa
Bell has 10 wins in 48 career Xfinity starts, making him the fifth quickest to 10 career wins.
Justin Allgaier led a race-high 138 laps but wound up with a DNF due to a brake issue that emerged just after Lap 187. It’s his second DNF of the year. Allgaier had not led a lap entering this race.
STAGE 1 WINNER: Justin Allgaier passed Tyler Reddick on the last lap after a miscommunication by Reddick’s team that the previous lap was the last of the stage.
STAGE 2 WINNER: Allgaier won the stage under caution after Jeremy Clements spun with six laps to go
Click here for the Xfinity points standings.
NOTABLE: Despite cutting a tire late and hitting the wall, Harrison Burton placed 10th in his series debut. He is the first driver to finish top 10 in their Xfinity debut at Bristol since Bobby Dragon finished 10th in April 1986 ... Bell, Reddick, Custer, Briscoe and Nemechek all earned their best Bristol finishes.
WHAT’S NEXT: ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway at 7 p.m. ET on April 12 on FS1