Christopher Bell Promoted to XFINITY Series in 2018

It was announced today that Christopher Bell will be promoted to the NASCAR XFINITY Series in 2018 where he will drive for Joe Gibbs Racing full-time. Bell has secured seven victories in 48 starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He has also pulled an impressive showing behind the wheel of an XFINITY Series car in the few starts he’s done this season with a best finish of fourth coming back at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May.

“I’m excited,” said Bell. “One thing that Toyota has done a great job of is preparing me for the next stepping stone. Whenever I was running late models at Kyle Busch Motorsports, they were kind of trickling me into some truck races, and I think I got seven truck races that year before I went full time, and it worked out again this year where I’m going to have, I think, eight XFINITY races before I go full time next year. So that’s great seat time for me.

Bell made his first start in the Camping World Truck Series at Iowa in 2015. In just his third start he earned his first career victory at Eldora, using his dirt racing background to prevail. Bell has driven for Kyle Busch Motorsports since his debut and is a Toyota Racing Development driver. Bell is on the same track as current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie drivers Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez with Toyota as a development driver.

“I’m going to be able to be with the organization and kind of learn how they operate, and driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, you already have somewhat of a feel for how they do things, and I think it’s a great fit and the perfect stepping stone.”