Christopher Bell is having a torrid outing at the Pennzoil 400 race event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After recovering from an early puncture in stage 1, the tire trouble has come back to haunt him in stage 2 of the race. The JGR’s No. 20, with just 10 laps to go, spun across the track after losing the grip.
To make matters even worse, Bell was told off by his crew to stay out and continue to race until the end of stage 2. Without much help from his car, Bell had no option but to lose precious time on the track. Meanwhile, the likes of Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, and his teammate Denny Hamlin were fighting off for the lead to claim the points for the Stage 2 win.
Christopher Bell won’t have happy memories of his Vegas trip
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The 29-year-old driver is right up against the odds racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It looks like the worst set of Goodyear tires made its way to Bell’s Toyota Camry. The tire company brought a new right-side tire for this weekend’s race, which raises the concern that Bell and his team had tampered with the pressure of the tires.
While that could have been the case when the driver caused the first caution of the race, the second incident could have been a disaster. Running P14 and eyeing to better his position before the end of Stage 2, the No. 20 coming to turn two spun across the track, losing grip from the track with yet another flat. With caution out, Bell wanted to pit to get a set of new tires for his car, but was asked to stay out by his team.
However, with a flat, he had no option but to head to the pit road under the green flag. In doing so, the driver was unable to make it to the stage break. Bell was able to make it into the top ten starting positions with a decent qualifying race, but after repeated tire failures at the main event, he will be unable to continue his good performances on the racetrack.
Bell fell a lap down and the team wants him to stay out and wave-around. Bell told team he didn't know if he could do that. Adam Stevens: "We don't have a f*($&&*#) choice, Bud."
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 3, 2024
During last season’s spring race, the No. 20 team managed a P5 finish and went on to better their previous run with a P2 finish during the playoff event at the venue. He was only outpaced by Kyle Larson, who has mastered the art of winning at this particular race track.
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Kyle Larson secures a playoff spot with a dominant racing performance
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After sweeping of the stages and leading 181 laps through the entire race, Kyle Larson bagged a second playoff spot for the Hendrick Motorsports team. Larson was in a league of his own and was hardly put to test by his oppositions. The only real threat he faced was during the final few laps, where Tyler Reddick did all he could to snatch the win from the 2021 Cup Series champion. This was Larson’s first win of the season and 24th of his career.
YUNG MONEY WINS IT ALL! pic.twitter.com/mg7nY53J4c
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) March 4, 2024
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The interesting part about the start of the season is that despite not having a new car this season, it has been Chevrolet who has bagged all three wins. The Fords are quicker than the Chevys on qualifying races, but when it comes to acing the races, Chevrolet seems to have the better of the two. However, Toyota with its new Camry has now started to rack up those positions given that they had two cars in the top-five finishing positions.