At Kansas Speedway on Saturday Christopher Bell won the Kansas Lottery 300 and outdueled Joe Gibbs Racing teammates outside the championship battle in the opening Round of 8 of the NASCAR XFINITY Series Playoffs.

While racing on Lap 197 of 200, Bell maneuvered and passed Erick Jones for the lead in the No. 18 Toyota.  Jones unintentionally made contact with Bell sliding up the track while he plowed into his rear.  Bell then continued to drive away from the bump for the victory.  Meanwhile, Jones limped to the finish line with most of the damage knocking him out of any contention finishing in 15th place.

Jones led four times during the race for a total of 186 laps before he smacked into the back of Bell.  The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series leader Bell was able to survive and cross the checkered flag ahead of second place finisher Tyler Reddick in only his fifth start, thus becoming the first driver to get his maiden XFINITY victory at the 1.5 mile race track.

After the race Bell was certainly excited and thrilled about his first NASCAR XFINITY Series career race, however, he was bummed out about the wreck with his teammate Erik Jones.

Ryan Blaney raced to third place followed by playoff drivers William Byron and Justin Allgaier.  The remaining top ten finishers were Austin Dillon sixth, Elliott Sadler seventh, Matt Tift eighth, Ty Dillon ninth and Ryan Reed in his No. 16 Ford tenth.

Beyond the three top playoff spots, not much was determined from Saturday’s race.  We now have two races remaining in the Round of 8, there is an eight point differential between fourth place Brennan Poole who finished 12th and Cole Custer in 19th position on Saturday who had to leave the track for pit road due to a cut tire.

Racing fans will enjoy the next NASCAR XFINITY race scheduled for Saturday November 4th at Texas Motor Speedway.