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“It’s just unbelievable”, Bell said.
Pierce, who was the 21 Means 21 Pole Award victor, was strong in the opening 60-lap segment, leading 33 circuits. “If you would have told me two years ago that my first win at Eldora was going to be in a truck, I’d have told you you were mad”.
The 20-year-old Norman, Oklahoma, dirt racer held off 18-year-old Bobby Pierce by 0.761 seconds in a green-white-checker finish in NASCAR’s lone dirt race in its top three series. Bell led through Lap 60. “It’s awesome what NASCAR has done, getting to be able to come here to Eldora”. His average finish over the 10 races is 5.7.
Bell and Pierce were consistently the fastest in the Camping World Truck Series race, exchanging the lead several times throughout the evening.
On the restart, Pierce attacked Bell and stole the lead on the backstretch and kept it through a yellow for John Wes Townley on Lap 94.
The final restart of the night featured Bell and Pierce up front but despite the latter’s last-turn pass attempt, Bell held on for the victory.
Under the yellow, most of the field elected to stay out, setting up for the start of segment three, a 40-lap dash.
Reported by the latest oddsmakers, Austin Dillon and Brad Keselowski are co-favorites to win today, as each has 15/4 odds while Ty Dillon and Tyler Reddick both have 13/2 odds. The opportunity to pull away would be denied when the 11th caution flag of the night waved. He led 106 of the 154 laps in his Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 54 Toyota truck. Even with a battered truck, Pierce stayed on the throttle. He leads Tyler Reddick by 14 points.
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“Bell did everything right to win the race, ” Pierce said.
