For the third time in the last four NASCAR Cup seasons, Christopher Bell has three wins. But with 13 more races still to go in this year\u2019s Cup campaign, Bell has a good likelihood have improving on his wins total and setting a new personal single-season best.<\/p>\n
Bell\u2019s winning proficiency potentially can be credited to the Next Generation\/Gen 7 car that began racing in the Cup Series in 2022. After just one Cup win pre-Gen 7, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has 11 visits to victory lane since the Gen 7\u2019s introduction.<\/p>\n
But the Norman, Oklahoma native was somewhat brought back to reality Friday during the Mission 176 at The Glen Craftsman Truck Series race on the Watkins Glen International road course.<\/p>\n
Bell was substituting for Stewart Friesen in the No. 62 Halmar Friesen Racing Toyota Tundra. Friesen was seriously injured in a non-NASCAR racing accident in Canada on July 28 and will miss the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n
Once he got behind the wheel of Friesen\u2019s truck, Bell immediately learned the stark differences between driving a Cup car and a Truck. He practically considers himself lucky to have finished fourth in his relief stint.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt certainly has different tendencies than a Cup car,\u201d Bell said of driving a truck to Frontstretch.com<\/a>. \u201cIt took me a bit of practice to get acclimated, mainly the brakes. The brakes were the biggest thing, just figuring out the aero drag in the truck and the braking capabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if you lift off the throttle and it slows down pretty quick, and it took me a minute to realize what was brake pedal and what was aero drag. The Cup cars have real good stopping potential and don\u2019t have as much drag as these things do. Once I got acclimated to the brake pedal, I was able to dial it or feel the truck better and felt like it was really strong.\u201d<\/p>\n Bell Had A Great Qualifying Effort<\/p>\n Bell started off real strong, as well, qualifying on the outside pole next to eventual race winner Corey Heim. Bell\u2019s team encouraged him to put a fender to Heim if necessary, but Bell decided to take the gentleman\u2019s way out.<\/p>\n