Christopher Bell Uncharacteristically Excited for “Backup” as Iowa Throws a Wrench in Weekend Plans

Coming into this weekend’s action at Iowa Speedway, Christopher Bell and crew chief Adam Stevens were high on confidence. And why wouldn’t they be? Bell has plenty of experience at the track, having won back-to-back years at the track from his Xfinity Series days. The 29-year-old was also one of just three drivers to have participated in the Goodyear Tire Test at Iowa Speedway in May. So, it should come as no surprise that Bell posted the fastest time on the board mid-way through Friday’s practice session.

But things took a turn for the worst (literally) in Lap 19. A flat right front tire on Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota forced the driver into the outside wall on the exit of Turn 4. This means that Joe Gibbs Racing will have to unload the backup car for Sunday’s race, a prospect that Christopher Bell is excited about, despite the setback he faced during practice.

Christopher Bell remains cautiously optimistic

Call it a coincidence or just bad luck. But Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs also had a flat tire just 10 minutes before Christopher Bell’s incident. Could the uneven surface because of the repave have anything to do with two flat tires? Fortunately for Gibbs, the tire cut down on the straightaway, which meant that his No. 54 Toyota didn’t crash into the wall.

Having already won two races this season, Christopher Bell was one of the favorites heading into Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has two wins at Iowa Speedway (July 2018 and June 2019) and two second-place finishes in five Xfinity starts. Bell has led 668 of 1,257 laps at Iowa Speedway, but this was before the track was partially repaved.

In an interview with Fronstretch after the crash, Christopher Bell was asked if he was okay and if there were any warning signs before the tire gave out. The 29-year-old replied, “I’m perfectly fine, obviously a big disappointment and something I didn’t see coming at all. Whenever we were here for the tire test, we did 50-lap runs like they were going out of style. I don’t even know how many laps I did but it couldn’t have been more than 20.”

Having participated in the Goodyear Tire Test at Iowa Speedway in May, the interviewer asked Bell if that experience would help him set up the backup car. Bell replied, “Just the fact that we were fast when we unloaded makes me excited about the backup, but it’s a backup for a reason.” While C. Bell may be downplaying expectations due to the circumstances, there is no denying that he does well on short or flat tracks, and his history at Iowa Speedway is dominant.

However, the partially repaved Iowa Speedway is very different from the high tire wear surface Christopher Bell dominated five years ago. Combined with the fact that the 29-year-old will be driving a backup car, Bell won’t be overly optimistic about his chances at Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350.

How will the repave affect his race?

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Sunday will mark the debut NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway. The .875-mile track has seen plenty of changes made to it in anticipation of the race. Despite NASCAR’s intention to fully repave the track, they didn’t have enough time to complete the process. As a result, the bottom and middle lanes are partially repaved while the topmost lane remains untouched, essentially making it unusable.

“I mean, it just completely ruined the corners, and it’s gonna make it a one-groove race track,” Bell opined. “They’ve been telling us that for a year, ever since they announced that Iowa was gonna be on the Cup schedule. NASCAR was informing us that they were gonna do, they told us patch jobs. Then, repaving the bottom half of the corners is gonna make it where the top half is completely unusable.”

With parts of the track freshly repaved, drivers will prioritize using the bottom and middle lanes instead of the topmost lane to maintain their tires and speed. Having a solid race strategy will be crucial for drivers and teams to gain track positions, as overtaking opportunities will be severely limited on an already narrow track due to the repave. For drivers such as Christopher Bell, who have traditionally dominated Iowa Speedway, the backup car combined with inconsistent repave will level the playing field on Sunday.

However, will Christopher Bell secure his third win of the season in Iowa? Or if not him then who do you think will put his name in the Iowa Cup Series History? Could it be Larson?