Chase Briscoe took his first career win in the Ford 200, but the big story was Christopher Bell. Bell won the championship by virtue of his second place finish. Johnny Sauter was the closest championship competitor, finishing third. Bell won 5 races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2017, and great trucks every week that crew chief Rudy Fugle and his crew provided every week. For Bell, who’s from Norman, Oklahoma, it was a perfect way to end the season. “You never know when your last win is, when your last championship is, so to be able to be standing here as a NASCAR champion is something I would say I dreamed of, but I didn’t ever think it was a possibility, so I didn’t ever really dream of it,” Bell said. “But it – I’m just really speechless.” Bell will race in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2018 for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Chase Briscoe had many misfortunes that cost him wins throughout the year, including losing to Bell by inches at Texas in June, so to get a win was a huge relief for him. “This is a long time coming,” said Briscoe who finished one position and nearly 16 seconds ahead of third-place Sauter, the defending series champion. “So proud of all these guys. To know that they’re not going to have a job next year, and we continued to bring really good trucks even though we were outside the playoffs, such a testament to how good these Brad Keselowski guys are.”  Brad Keselowski racing is shutting down and will not field a team next year, so it was fitting for Briscoe to take his first win in the team’s final race.

Credit to www.nascar.com

Written on November 29, 2017