NCWTS Christopher Bell – No. 4 Toyota Tundra NCWTS Charlotte Advance

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (May 17, 2016) – Top-five finishes in each of the last two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events have helped Christopher Bell catapult from 22^nd in the championship standings leaving Martinsville (Va.) Speedway to ninth entering Friday’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

Running at the front of the field hasn’t been a problem for the 21-year-old driver this year, but finishing there proved to be difficult in the early part of the season. The talented wheelman’s average running position of 8.942 ranks second to two-time Truck Series champion Matt Crafton this season and he also has the third-highest driver rating among series regulars (93.7). Bell put himself in a position to win late in the race at both Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway and was on pace for a top-10 finish at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, but incidents late in all three races left him with disappointing results and an average finish of 20.3 after the first three events.

While it surely wasn’t easy on the young driver to have to wait five weeks to get back behind the wheel of his No. 4 Tundra, it may have been just what the doctor ordered. Two weeks ago, Bell made his first career start at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, where he came from the fifth starting position to lead five laps and bring home what, at the time, was a season-best fourth-place finish. Last week he upped that performance in his Dover (Del.) International Speedway debut, scratching and clawing from his ninth starting position to finish third and earn the Sunoco Rookie of the Race award.

Now the Oklahoma native tackles Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway for the first time Friday night in the N.C. Education Lottery 200. Bell will surely get an education on how to get around the 1.5-mile quad-oval from team owner Kyle Busch, who is driving the team’s fourth entry in the 134-lap event. Busch has produced a track-record six victories in Truck Series action at Charlotte, including four victories in four starts since Kyle Busch Motorsports’ (KBM) inaugural season in 2010.

With finishes of fourth and third in the last two events Bell is not only moving in the right direction towards collecting his first win of the season, but heading in an upward path in the Truck Series championship standings. With Busch in the field this week, getting the win will be more of a challenge, but the jackpot at the end would be much more rewarding.

Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 4 NCWTS Toyota Tundra:

How is your confidence level after producing top-five finishes in each of the last two races?

“Confidence is a funny thing. You can win all the races in the world and have all the confidence in the world, but one bad race and it’s down the drain. We were really fast at the beginning of the year and we could have won the first two races, but we didn’t close the deal out and we crashed. At Kansas, my confidence was definitely down, but it’s cool to be able to get two top-five finishes in a row. The biggest thing is, I think I’m getting confidence from my guys, so everyone as a team is getting stronger and stronger. Going into Charlotte, hopefully we can be even better yet. We were fast at Atlanta and Kansas, so I feel like that speed will carry over to this week. Charlotte looks like a place that you can move around and find ways to pass people, which is something that was difficult at Kansas. If we keep running up front and putting ourselves in contention to win, eventually we’re going to get one.”

As a young driver, does it help to have Kyle racing alongside you as a teammate?

“Kyle is always accessible whether he’s driving the truck that week or not, but he’s much more accessible when he’s in the garage with you. On Thursday the only thing going on is truck practice, so he’s not going to have to run back and forth between the garages like he has to some weeks. I’m sure when the three practices are over, he’ll sit us all down and we will compare notes. It’ll be good to have him as a teammate this week, but getting a victory will also be a little bit tougher because he’s so good in the trucks at Charlotte. As they say, if you are going to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

Jerry Baxter, crew chief of the No. 4 NCWTS Toyota Tundra:

What are some of the challenges your team will face this week at Charlotte?

“With young drivers it takes getting experience on the mile-and-a-half tracks to learn how to position your truck aero wise to be able to pass people. Another challenge this week will be that all three practices on Thursday are during the day and the race is Friday night. It’s tough for a driver that doesn’t have a lot of seat time to be able to know how to get the balance of his truck right for a night race when you are practicing during the day, so Christopher will have to rely on the experience of our team and the notebook we have at KBM to help him out.”

Christopher Bell’s No. 4 Toyota Tundra:

KBM-39: The No. 4 Toyota Racing team will unload a brand new chassis, KBM-39, for Friday’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

Notes of Interest:

Christopher Bell 2016:

Has posted two top-five finishes and an average finish of 13.6 across five NCWTS starts this season
Ranks second in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings, trailing KBM teammate William Byron by six points, and is currently ninth in the Truck Series championship standings
Ranks first among NCWTS drivers this season in quality passes (234), second in average running position (8.942), and third in both driver rating (93.7) and fastest laps run (49)
Has improved his season-best finish each of the last two races; recording a fourth-place finish at Kansas Speedway (5/6/13), followed by a third-place finish at Dover (Del.) International Speedway (5/13/16)
Led a race-high 91 laps, including the final 44, of the 200-lap event at Salem (Ind.) Speedway en route to victory in his first-career start in the ARCA Racing Series (4/24/16)
Picked up his eighth career Late Model victory for KBM with a win in the CARS Super Late Model Tour Orange Blossom 300 at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C. (4/16/16)
Won the inaugural Ohio Sprint Car Series event at Atomic Speedway in Waverly, Ohio (3/26/16)

Christopher Bell NCWTS Career Stats:

Year	Races	Win	T5	T10	Pole	Laps	Led	AvSt	AvFn	RAF	Miles	LLF
2016	5	0	2	2	0	846	47	7.8	13.6	4	1024.5	3
2015	7	1	2	3	0	1018	111	9.3	11.9	6	1361.7	4
Totals	12	1	4	5	0	1864	158	8.7	12.6	10	2386.2	7

Christopher Bell 2015:

Claimed his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio in just his third series start
Recorded one win, 111 laps led, two top-five and three top-10 finishes across seven NCWTS starts
Collected six victories in 15 starts behind the wheel of KBM’s No. 51 Late Model, including his first marquee win when he led 203 of 250 laps of the prestigious Rattler 250 at South Alabama Speedway in Kinston
Made two NASCAR K&N Pro Series starts, including a fifth-place finish in the East-West combination race at Iowa Speedway
On dirt, collected six POWRi Midget wins, two USAC National Midget wins, one USAC Silver Crown win and also collected his second career World of Outlaws Sprint Car triumph

Christopher Bell 2014

Collected an amazing 27 feature wins while competing in 108 events between Midgets (18 wins), Winged Sprint Cars (seven wins), Non-Winged Sprint Cars (one win) on dirt and Late Models (one win) on pavement
In just his fourth career Late Model start, outdueled second-generation NASCAR driver John Hunter Nemechek to win the Orange County 150 Pro All Star Series (PASS) South Super Late Model race at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, N.C.

Kyle Busch Motorsports’ No. 4 Tundra:

The No. 4 Tundra has collected three wins, five poles, 13 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes across 28 starts since originating in 2015
Five members of this year’s No. 4 Tundra team were a part of last year’s No. 51 team that collected two wins, 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes
Erik Jones delivered KBM its first-ever Driver’s Championship behind the wheel of the No. 4 Tundra in 2015 and also gave the organization its third consecutive and fourth career Owner’s Title

KBM NCWTS Program

Has collected a series’ record four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Owner’s Championships, one Driver’s Championship, 47 Truck Series victories and 24 poles across 288 starts since originating in 2010
47 career Truck Series victories as an organization ranks second all-time behind Roush Fenway (50)
14 victories as an organization during the 2014 season broke the Truck Series record of 12 set by Ultra Motorsports in 2001
Eight different drivers have won a race for KBM, led by owner-driver Kyle Busch with 29. Erik Jones has collected seven victories, Darrell Wallace Jr., has five wins, Denny Hamlin produced two victories and Christopher Bell, William Byron, Kasey Kahne and Brian Scott all collected one triumph
Has collected victories at 20 of the 21 tracks on the 2016 schedule, excluding Atlanta Motor Speedway

KBM NCWTS @ Charlotte Motor Speedway

KBM drivers have collected four wins, two poles, 374 laps led, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.8 across 13 starts at CMS
Owner-driver Kyle Busch has collected all four of his team’s wins at the 1.5-mile track (2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014)
In the 2014 event at the North Carolina track, Busch started on the pole and registered a perfect driver rating (150.0) after leading 130 of the 134 laps

The Book on Baxter:

Veteran crew chief Jerry Baxter is in his fourth season atop the pit box for KBM. Since joining KBM, Baxter’s drivers have posted seven wins, three poles, 1218 laps led, 26 top-five and 42 top-10 finishes across 72 starts. The California native spent the 2015 season calling the shots for KBM’s No. 51 team, which collected two wins, 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes with drivers Daniel Suarez (12 starts), Matt Tifft (six starts), Kyle Busch (three starts), and Christopher Bell (one start) behind the wheel. In addition to his seven wins at KBM, he boasts one other Truck Series win (Cale Gale, 2012) and one NASCAR XFINITY Series win (David Reutimann, 2007).

Baxter’s eighth-place finish with Matt Tifft in last year’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 was his best result across four starts at Charlotte.

Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 4 Tundra 2016 NCWTS Box Score:

Date	Site	Driver	Start	Finish	Laps	Laps Led	Status	Driver Pts./Pos.
19-Feb	Daytona	Bell	8	16	99/100	0	Running	17/14^th
27-Feb	Atlanta	Bell	3	26	122/130	42	Accident	25/21^st
2-Apr	Martinsville	Bell	14	19	255/255	0	Running	39/22^nd
6-May	Kansas	Bell	5	4	170/170	5	Running	69/14^th
13-May	Dover	Bell	9	3	200/200	0	Running	99/9^th