NASCAR Xfinity Series: Christopher Bell wins 2018 U.S. Cellular 250

By Asher Fair | Jul 28, 2018

NEWTON, IA - JULY 28: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Ruud Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series U.S. Cellular 250 presented by The Rasmussen Group at Iowa Speedway on July 28, 2018 in Newton, Iowa. (Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images) /

Christopher Bell won the 19th race of the 33-race 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, the U.S. Cellular 250, at Iowa Speedway.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell earned his fourth victory of the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series season by winning the U.S. Cellular 250. The win is his third in a row, as he also won at Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago and New Hampshire Motor Speedway last week.

Bell won the 257-lap race, which was scheduled to be a 250-lap race but went into overtime due to a late caution flag period, around the four-turn, 0.875-mile (1.408-kilometer) Iowa Speedway oval in Newton, Iowa in his #20 Toyota by 0.421 seconds over second place finisher Justin Allgaier, who was the highest finishing Chevrolet driver of the race in his #7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Benjamin, JD Motorsports’ Ross Chastain, Chip Ganassi Racing’s John Hunter Nemecheck and JR Motorsports’ Elliott Sadler, who started the race from the pole position, rounded out the top six in third, fourth, fifth and sixth place in their #18 Toyota, #4 Chevrolet, #42 Chevrolet and #1 Chevrolet, respectively.

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Roush Fenway Racing’s Ryan Reed was the highest finishing Ford driver of the race. He finished in seventh place in his #16 Ford.

The race featured a total of 12 lead changes among seven drivers. Aside of Bell, who led 94 laps of the race, six other drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those drivers were Allgaier, Benjamin, Sadler, Cole Custer, Brandon Jones and Shane Lee.

Custer, who led more laps than anybody else in the field with 104 laps led en route to a ninth place finish, won stage one. Bell won stage two.

The race also featured a total of six caution periods for 41 laps. Of the 40 drivers who started the race, 32 finished it. Of the 32 drivers who finished the race, 12 finished it on the lead lap.

The last two drivers who finished the race on the lead lap were Daniel Hemric and Brandon Jones. They finished in 11th and 12th place, respectively, after being involved in a spin in the final turn of the final lap of the race.

Coming to the green flag in overtime, Allgaier led the race with Jones beside him in second place. Benjamin and Bell lined up in third and fourth, respectively. Bell was able to pass all three of the drivers who started in front of him en route to taking the checkered flag.

Here are the full race results of the 2018 U.S. Cellular 250 at Iowa Speedway.

Race Results

1st – Christopher Bell

2nd – Justin Allgaier

3rd – Kyle Benjamin

4th – Ross Chastain

5th – John Hunter Nemechek

6th – Elliott Sadler

7th – Ryan Reed

8th – Ryan Truex

9th – Cole Custer

10th – Chase Briscoe

11th – Daniel Hemric

12th – Brandon Jones

13th – Shane Lee

14th – Michael Annett

15th – Casey Roderick

16th – Alex Labbe

17th – Joey Gase

18th – Austin Cindric

19th – David Starr

20th – Jeremy Clements

21st – Tommy Joe Martins

22nd – Tyler Reddick

23rd – Spencer Boyd

24th – Josh Williams

25th – Garrett Smithley

26th – Matt Tifft

27th – Brandon Hightower

28th – Ray Black Jr.

29th – Vinnie Miller

30th – Max Tullman

31st – Peter Shepherd

32nd – Mike Harmon

33rd – Stan Mullis

34th – Ryan Sieg

35th – Jeff Green

36th – Dexter Bean

37th – Chad Finchum

38th – Morgan Shepherd

39th – Stephen Leicht

40th – Josh Bilicki

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The next race on the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Zippo 200 at The Glen, which is scheduled to take place next Saturday, August 4. Tune in to NBC at 3:30 p.m. for the live broadcast of that race from Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York.

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