Christopher Bell gets eighth win of the season in Texas

credit: Lisa Janine Cloud/Skirts and Scuffs

by Lisa Janine Cloud

Christopher Bell claimed a berth in the Xfinity Series Final Four with his victory Saturday night in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. The Norman, Oklahoma, native cruised to the win with a comfortable 5.561 margin over Ross Chastain in second.

Bell led 101 of 200 laps at the 1.5 mile track just two-and-a-half hours from his hometown. In fact, he could probably have driven the 165 miles home in the time it took to run the race. The victory was first in the Xfinity Series at what he considers his home track and he pasted his eighth sticker of the 2019 season on his Rheem Toyota in Victory Lane. Bell has 16 career wins in the Xfinity Series.

Austin Cindric came in third, while Brandon Jones bulldogged his way past Justin Allgaier to finish fourth, bringing top-finishing rookie John Hunter Nemechek with him. Allgaier, who started in the rear of the field after an engine change, dropped to sixth.

Harrison Burton came home seventh in his Xfinity debut at TMS, with Cole Custer, Jeb Burton, and Ryan Sieg rounding out the top ten. 

Bell and Tyler Reddick traded the lead several times throughout the race until Reddick wrecked on Lap 160 while trying to avoid Chase Briscoe who bumped the wall. Reddick wound up 29th, while Briscoe limped home in 22nd.

The race slowed nine times for caution, a total of 51 laps, and was under a red flag for 5:38.

Here are the point standings going into Phoenix:

Rank	Driver	Points	Diff
1	Christopher Bell	3166
2	Cole Custer	3135	-31
3	Tyler Reddick	3119	-47
4	Justin Allgaier	3101	-65
5	Chase Briscoe	3083	-83
6	Michael Annett	3073	-93
7	Austin Cindric	3070	-96
8	Noah Gragson	3054	-112

Full race results:

Fin	Driver
1	Christopher Bell
2	Ross Chastain
3	Austin Cindric
4	Brandon Jones
5	John Hunter Nemechek
6	Justin Allgaier
7	Harrison Burton
8	Cole Custer
9	Jeb Burton
10	Ryan Sieg
11	Michael Annett
12	Ray Black, Jr.
13	Gray Gaulding
14	Josh Williams
15	Chad Finchum
16	B.J. McLeod
17	Garrett Smithley
18	Matt Mills
19	Stephen Leicht
20	Bayley Currey
21	Josh Bilicki
22	Chase Briscoe
23	Stefan Parsons
24	Vinnie Miller
25	Brandon Brown
26	Joey Gase
27	C.J. McLaughlin
28	Jeremy Clements
29	Tyler Reddick
30	Noah Gragson
31	Ronnie Bassett, Jr.
32	Justin Haley
33	David Starr
34	Kyle Weatherman
35	Timmy Hill
36	Landon Cassill
37	Bobby Dale Earnhardt
38	J.J. Yeley