Bell raises some tempers en route to runner-up finish at COTA

Bell and Byron clearly had the two fastest cars throughout Sunday’s 68-lap race on the 3.41-mile, 20-turn road course but the two ended up on slightly different pit strategies.

Bell and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team adapted a two-stop strategy in the race and the benefit was Bell ended up one of last cars to pit.

That left Bell with slightly fresher tires in his effort to catch Byron once the final green flag stops had cycled through but ultimately came up short.

“Obviously once I got to him, it was going to be tough to pass him, but just needed a couple of mistakes,” Bell said. “William has been really, really good on the road courses, and he was flawless when it mattered today.”

At least twice during the race, however, when Bell was fighting his through the field, he spun out other drivers and one of them – Kyle Busch – was among the first to confront Bell after the race on pit road.

With 28 laps remaining and battling Tyler Reddick and Kyle Busch for position, Bell got into Busch’s No. 8 car as the two entered Turn 1. The contact sent Busch around and he eventually lost several positions on the track and finished ninth.

Busch and Bell got into an animated discussion about the issue on pit road.

“Obviously, he’s very upset. He ended up turned around,” Bell said. “First off, I’m sorry to (Kyle) Larson and the No. 5 car. I got him earlier in the race and by no intention at all. I didn’t mean to do that.

“KB is frustrated about what happened in Turn 1. I don’t know. they were two-wide going in there. I obviously haven’t seen a replay yet. I had no intentions of turning him and I’m sure we’ll talk it out before the next race.”

The incident with Larson came on lap 22 when Bell got into Larson in Turn 11 and spun him around. Larson stalled briefly but was able to eventually continue in the race. He struggled to regain his track position and ended up 18th.

Bell remains seventh in the series standings, 37 behind leader Martin Truex Jr. He is, however, already locked in the playoffs thanks to his win at Phoenix.