Christopher Bell explains incident with Kyle Busch that led to confrontation at COTA
Christopher Bell and Kyle Busch didn’t exactly share the friendliest of exchanges following Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA).
Busch marched over to Bell on pit road, still fuming from when Bell made contact and spun him around during the final stage of the race. Bell, speaking with Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, described what happened from his vantage point with Busch on the racetrack.
“I just don’t know — [Kyle] Larson, I made a mistake, right. And I got into the back of him and spun him out,” Bell said. “But KB, he opened his entry up and then tried to crossover and whenever — I was running my line, so had I known he was going to come across the racetrack, I would have braked a little bit, but I never expected him to do that. So, I don’t know. I haven’t seen a replay either so, need to see a replay.”
Kyle Busch sends a warning to Christopher Bell after COTA
Busch’s chance at securing a top-five finish came to an end after Bell spun his No. 8 Chevrolet around. He did rebound to finish ninth, but it’s clear he won’t be forgetting this anytime soon. In fact, Bell just might have a receipt coming.
During their confrontation, Busch asked Bell if he had ever wrecked him before. Bell answered no, to which Busch responded, “OK, it’s f—— coming.”
While Busch’s day didn’t end how he wanted, Bell raced his way to a P2 finish, nearly chasing down William Byron in the last 10 laps. Byron held on, preventing Bell from picking up his second victory of the season. Bell told Wendy Venturini of Performance Racing Network that he likely needed one more lap to make a run at Byron for the win.
“It seems another lap I would’ve got there for sure,” Bell said. “Passing was gonna be difficult. I needed him to make a mistake and he didn’t.”