Written by Adrian Beecher
Richmond, VA — Christopher Bell came up just short in the first two stages of the race but crossed the start-finish line first when it counted, at the end of the race. It was Bell’s second career Xfinity Series victory as he rolled into victory lane as the winner of the ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway Friday night, having to hold off his teammate Noah Gragson to get the win.
“That was pretty special there buddy. Had to work for it. My teammate was really good. I knew throughout both practices that both of our cars were going to be really strong. Joe Gibbs Racing has been producing really, really fast Camrys for the last couple weeks and it’s really shown. Man, I’m just really thankful for all of our partners at Rheem, GameStop, Toyota, TRD and everyone that was watching on the Xfinity X1 app, Xfinity for supporting the series and thank you to all of the fans that came out.” said an excited Christopher Bell after the race.
(Photo Credit: Chris Tello / The SkyBoat)
Bell would pass Gragson on one lap after the final restart on laps 171 to take the lead. Bell never gave that lead-up, despite Gragson getting right to his back bumper with only 10 laps to go. It was Gragson’s debut race in the Xfinity Series and finished in 2nd place.
Xfinity Series veteran Elliott Sadler finished in 2nd place after capturing the stage 1 victory. He wouldn’t go home empty-handed, however, as he was one of the four Dash4Cash competitors in the race. Since he was the top finisher out of the four eligible for the Dash4Cash, he took home a check for $100,000.
“My wife is probably already spending it!” said a smiling Sadler after the race.
Sadler remains the points leader, just 29 points ahead of Friday’s winner Christopher Bell. Both Bell and Sadler are eligible for the Dash4Cash next weekend at Talladega. They are joined by Austin Cindric and Matt Tifft in the race for $100,000 at Dega Saturday, April 28th.
