Christopher Bell Breaks Down How He Won the “Tale of Two…Events” as He Sweeps New Hampshire for the First Time

Dominant. That’s the right word to describe Christopher Bell’s weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 29-year-old claimed a sweep by winning the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series race, amidst difficult weather conditions and multiple delays. The achievement was far from easy, and Bell had to earn that ‘broom’, becoming one of just four drivers to have three wins in the Cup Series this season. Raising a 24-pound lobster in victory lane, one couldn’t help but think that the Magic Mile double would have been impossible without wet weather tires.

Speaking at the post-race press conference, Christopher Bell spoke about his ninth career victory in detail, breaking down the race into a tale of two events.

Wet tire madness at New Hampshire

The NASCAR Cup Series race in New Hampshire lasted a total of six hours, including a two-hour-plus delay. It was only the third time that wet weather tires were used on an oval track, but that didn’t stop Bell, who led 149 of the 305 laps in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He finished the race 1.104 seconds ahead of second-place Chase Briscoe, who started the race in 23rd place. He was followed by Josh Berry, Kyle Larson, and Chris Buescher at the Magic Mile.

When asked about the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a beaming Christopher Bell replied, “It was literally the tale of two completely different events. Obviously, the rain completely shook up what was going on on track. In the dry, we started off really well. I was able to get the lead in the first stage and then Martin really came on then in stage 2. I think we had some room to improve on the dry stuff.”

Having won seven out of 11 races at the track, it is clear that Christopher Bell enjoys racing at the Magic Mile. Speaking about the performance of his No. 20 Toyota Camry, Bell said, “I definitely didn’t have the dominant car. Whenever the wet came, it was like, we might as well have been somewhere completely different. It was just so fun to get to experience that run of, whatever it was, 80 laps, in wet tires, wet damp conditions. Just a lot of fun, that was so much fun.”

The race in New Hampshire was a landmark event, not just for Christopher Bell but for NASCAR as well. In the past, it wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary for the race to be called off, given the weather conditions, as long as enough laps were passed to make it a legal points event. However, the development of wet-weather tires meant that NASCAR chose to wait it out, even if that meant a two-hour delay. Without the rain tires, the race would have been canceled, there are no questions about it.

However, thanks to NASCAR’s preparation, Christopher Bell got a chance to showcase his maneuvers under tricky conditions once again.

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Christopher Bell thrives in difficult weather conditions

It’s not the first time that Christopher Bell has won a NASCAR Cup Series race in difficult weather conditions. He won the Coca-Cola 600 earlier this season at Charlotte Motor Speedway, in quite an anticlimactic fashion. With more than 151 laps to go, the race was called off after being red-flagged for more than two hours because of steady rain. Fast forward to New Hampshire and Christopher Bell won not once, but twice, at the 1.058 mile oval speedway in Loudon.

Speaking about getting results in tricky weather conditions, Christopher Bell said, “I personally love adverse conditions, because you’re always trying to think outside the box. Whenever we went back out, I was feeling around and it felt like that the normal Loudon groove was really, really slippery. So I tried to just run down or run up, and [crew chief Adam Stevens] put the tune on this thing and it was turning really good …. Guys, this one didn’t get shortened!”

And this love for adverse conditions was not without a reason. Bell was pretty confident about the wet weather tires. As he said, “My chances got a lot higher once they went to the wet weather tires“. In a race that saw five restarts when racing on the damp surface, Bell held the lead through it all.

In a race that featured multiple strategies, continuously changing track conditions, a two-hour rain delay, and several wrecks that wiped out some of NASCAR’s biggest stars out of contention, Christopher Bell held his own almost effortlessly to sweep New Hampshire. With NASCAR heading to Nashville next weekend, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Bell pray to the rain gods for another thunderstorm at the 1.330-mile tri-oval in Tennessee.

Do you think Christopher Bell will win the race at Nashville Super Speedway? Let us know in the comments!