Kyle Petty: Christopher Bell was the ‘class of the field’ at Gateway

It’s not often you have a racecar as dominant as Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota was during Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

As Kyle Petty said Monday, Bell was “the class of the field,” and there’s certainly no argument against that. Bell led a race-high 80-of-240 laps and won Stages 1 and 2.

“We saw Christopher Bell be the class of the field,” Petty said. “Who says there’s no such thing as momentum? Coming off of Charlotte, he rolls into St. Louis — same speed. He’s got it, he’s running up front, he’s leading laps, he’s getting it done. But at the end of the race, he’s nowhere to be seen [with] mechanical issues. That’s why you have to watch a race till the very end and this race is the perfect example.”

Bell, however, couldn’t finish it off to secure his second consecutive victory. Battling Ryan Blaney for the lead in the closing laps of the third and final stage, Bell’s car sustained a mechanical issue. He quickly fell off the pace of Blaney, eventually settling for a P7 result with the help of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr. — a disappointing outcome given how dominant his car was.

“I have no idea what happened,” Bell said after the race. “Some sort of motor issue. I’m surprised that I made it to the end. Glad we were able to salvage something out of it. You don’t get race cars like that very often. Whenever you do, you need to take advantage of it. Disappointing day.”

Denny Hamlin declares Christopher Bell as a championship favorite after Gateway

Bell did move up three spots in the points standings with his performance, now sitting eighth through 15 races. In addition to winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Sunday, Bell got the checkered flag in the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway back in March.

Denny Hamlin said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast he believes Bell is a championship threat given his recent performance.

“When I saw he finished seventh, I was like, ‘Oh wow,’” Hamlin said. “He limped it home, but I think the field was so spread out that moment. … Maybe he gained a second by Truex pushing him down the straightaways but certainly was beneficial. He was still running really fast through the corners.

“This is the second track in a row these mile flat tracks where [Bell] has really shown a lot of speed. If he can make it to Phoenix, he’s gonna be a threat.”

The post Kyle Petty: Christopher Bell was the ‘class of the field’ at Gateway appeared first on On3.