LAS VEGAS – Christopher Bell will take the wheel of the Baughman Reutzel Motorsports No. 17x during this week’s FVP Platinum Battery Showdown presented by Star Nursery at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The two-day show on Wednesday and Thursday nights will see Bell make his first appearance for the team, filling the seat normally occupied by team co-owner Josh Baughman.
“I raced down in Florida myself, and was planning on racing in Texas (before a pair of rainouts), and with the No. 17 car already being out on the road … I talked with the guys and figured we’d see if Bell was available to come out here this week,” Baughman told SPEED SPORT. “With NASCAR being in Las Vegas, it seemed like a good fit, and he got permission to drive. I’m not driving full-time anymore and have switched more to the car owner and business side, so I felt like it was a good opportunity for us to come down and had a couple great shots to win here on the West Coast.”
Baughman also pointed out that it gives the team, which will field a car for reigning All Star Circuit of Champions titlist Aaron Reutzel in addition to Bell at Las Vegas, a chance to evaluate where they’re at with a second top-level driver.
“We talked about that as we were putting this deal together, what he would do to help us as an organization,” Baughman noted. “He always goes good and we can learn a lot from him that we can use on both the No. 17 and the No. 87 as we move deeper into the season.”
Bell, a NASCAR Xfinity Series regular for Joe Gibbs Racing, is coming off a win at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway on Feb. 23. It marked his first NASCAR victory of the season after he was a seven-time winner in Xfinity Series competition one year ago.
The Norman, Okla., native has spent plenty of time on the dirt in recent weeks as well. He spent a large portion of his offseason in New Zealand racing midgets and sprint cars, coming back to the United States in time to win his third Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals on Jan. 19.
If that wasn’t enough, Bell moved forward into the Swindell SpeedLab No. 39 and immediately impressed for team owner Kevin Swindell by scoring three top-five finishes in four starts during the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park on Feb. 6-9.
A pair of podium finishes – third and second, respectively – in the two World of Outlaws-sanctioned features held during sprint week at Volusia have Bell sitting second in the series point standings entering Wednesday night’s opening round on the Las Vegas dirt.
“We’re off to a great start. Obviously sitting second in Outlaw points right now is pretty freaking cool,” Bell noted.
“I’m really excited about that and it’s cool that we have a shot to keep it going.”
