Atlanta, GA – Christopher Bell drove his No. 20 Rheem Toyota like he stole it as he cruised to a win on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, leading 142 of 163 laps in the Rinnai 250!
“Yeah, it means a lot to be able to come over here and win in the second race and what I call the first true race of the season,” said Bell, “Hopefully, it means something and we can build on this and try and help our long-run speed.”
Bell dominated stage one of the race, taking over the lead on the first lap after starting back in 3rd. His success continued through stage two as well as he led all the laps.
Just ahead of the star of the final stage, Brandon Jones was able to get off pitroad first and take P1, however, a speeding penalty on pit road would send him to the back of the field.
This put Tyler Reddick to the lead position, with Christopher Bell starting on the outside of row 1. Bell would take over the lead almost immediately.
Reddick would put up the toughest fight against Bell, as he took over the lead from Bell from lap 84-91. However, was able to easily get back to the top spot. This is until there were 7 laps to go and a caution came out as John Hunter Nemechek in the No. 23 Fire Alarm Services Inc Chevrolet took a spinINg in turn two.
Before this, Reddick and Custer had been giving Bell everything he could handle as they looked to make the pass for the lead. The caution brought all the leaders down pit road to get new tires.
On the restart, Bell pulled away and continued to as Reddick had nothing in the tank for Bell, neither did pole-sitter Cole Custer, who ended the race in 2nd.
“It made for a good finish, that’s for
