Penalty pushes Christopher Bell back to sixth in Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. — Christopher Bell could’ve visited victory lane Sunday night in Richmond but a speeding penalty in the final stage took him out of contention for the win. 

After a round of non-competitive pit stops with the rain tires in stage one of the Toyota Owners 400, pit strategy loomed large in the final two stages.

While other drivers used it to make passes that were otherwise tough Sunday, Bell drove from 29th to sixth on his own by the time stage two ended.

In the final stage, Bell drove to third and had a fast car. Capitalizing on that, he pitted last during the first green-flag pit-stop cycle. It would’ve put Bell in prime position to contend for his second checkered flag of 2024.

If not for a speeding penalty on that important stop.

“It stings to have a car that fast and make a mistake with it,” Bell said.

Instead, Bell had to make up the lap he lost and drive back into the top 10. He settled for a sixth-place finish. 

“To come out of here with a top-10 is something that ended up being a really good day. It was such a disappointing mistake on pit road. I was right there in the hunt, and it was going to be a race under the green flag there,” Bell said.

Bell has five top-10 finishes in the first seven races this season, including his win at Phoenix Raceway. One win could’ve been three at this point. Last weekend at Circuit of the Americas, Bell needed just another lap to get to eventual winner William Byron.

Nonetheless, Bell can rest assured he is virtually locked into the playoffs for now. He sits seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings, +56 to John Hunter Nemechek who sits below the playoff cutline and -51 to leader Martin Truex Jr.

“I’m disappointed but happy to have a good showing for this Mobil 1 Camry,” Bell said.

Bell now turns his attention to Martinsville Speedway, where he has a win and two other top-10 finishes, including a seventh-place finish the last time the Cup Series visited the half-mile paperclip-shaped track.

The Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway is set to go green next Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.