Preview – The NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at ISM Raceway

RACE INFO: The NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at ISM Raceway begins at 4:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 9, 2019. The race will be broadcast live on Fox Sports One, Sirius XM 90, and MRN Radio.

Christopher Bell – No. 20 Rheem Toyota Supra Preview The NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at ISM Raceway

Bell at Phoenix: Christopher Bell scored a fourth-place finish in the first race of 2018 at the new ISM Raceway and was the top-finishing Rookie earning his third-consecutive top-four finish. Then in the final Phoenix visit of the season and the final race in the Round of 8 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs, Bell faced a must-win situation to advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Starting from the 38th position, Bell worked his way through the field during the first two stages and grabbed the lead on lap 108 of the 200 lap event and went on to score the dramatic win. Bell and his No. 20 teammates earned their record-setting seventh win of Bell’s rookie season punching their ticket to the Championship 4 race at Homestead-Miami.

Restarts were hectic last year at Phoenix with the new configuration, but luckily we had a good car and were out front.  Hopefully we can be out front again and we don’t have as many restarts this time.

Vegas Recap: Bell started at the tail end of the field after an unapproved pre-race adjustment, but wasted no time making his way to the front. By the end of the opening Stage, Bell had driven his Rheem Supra to fourth and was a constant factor in the top five for the rest of the race, including taking the lead twice. Contact from another competitor on a late-race restart tore the bumper off the No. 20. Bell remained competitive on track, but without a bumper NASCAR did not score his laps, resulting in a 13th-place finish at Vegas.

Joe Gibbs Racing at Phoenix: JGR has 83 NXS starts at ISM Raceway and has earned 11 wins, 37 top-five and 59 top-10 finishes. The championship-winning organization has won 15 pole awards with an average start of 8.5 an average finish of 9.3.

Christopher Bell: “Restarts were hectic last year at Phoenix with the new configuration, but luckily we had a good car and were out front. Hopefully, we can be out front again and we don’t have as many restarts this time. Joe Gibbs Racing is extremely good on all the short tracks. We saw Kyle win both races at Richmond last year and the Xfinity program was really good. JGR has a really good short track package and I’m one of the lucky guys who gets to drive them.”

Christopher Bell’s Xfinity Series Stats