• Oklahoma native Christopher Bell won the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
• Bell, who now lives in North Carolina, is one of only five NASCAR Cup Series drivers from Oklahoma.
• He credits a family friend with introducing him to racing and helping him start his career.
• Bell’s success in sprint car racing led to opportunities in NASCAR, eventually landing him a spot with Joe Gibbs Racing.

North Carolina is known for being the hub of stock car racing, specifically the Charlotte and Mooresville areas. Since the late 1980s, both cities have gained quite a reputation for producing NASCAR’s top Cup Series drivers and teams, as a number of race teams are based there.

And this past weekend, North Wilkesboro Speedway played host to the NASCAR All-Star Race for the third year in a row after the track was renovated and upgraded to return to its oval, short-track glory.

Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, lives in North Carolina now and he won the All-Star Race on May 18 to stop Joey Logano’s repeat bid. Bell is one of only five NASCAR Cup Series drivers originally from Oklahoma. The city of Norman is Bell’s hometown, 1,098 miles from the center of stock car racing.

Oklahoma has produced a few drivers far from the circle of NASCAR legends. For instance, Augie Howerton was active in NASCAR in 1956, followed by Troy Ruttman from 1962 to 1964, Randy Ogden from 1979 to 1981 and Tanner Berryhill in 2018.

Bell, who also pulled off a rare three-peat this year with back-to-back-to-back Cup Series victories, was fine with relocating to North Carolina to be close to Gibbs’ Huntersville shops.

“When people think of me, they expect me to be a country boy,” Bell said. “That’s not me. I grew up in Norman. It’s a city and I grew up in a neighborhood. Compared to my wife, who grew up in Ohio, she is kind of a country girl and I’m the city slicker. That’s different. I don’t think most people expect that.

“Everyone in Oklahoma has that Southern hospitality and everyone is friendly to each other. I love my time growing up in Oklahoma and wouldn’t trade it for anything. That’s for sure.”

Bell is floating on Cloud Nine after winning NASCAR’s prestigious All-Star race this past Sunday and looks forward to continuing his success at the Coca-Cola 600 on May 25. What also came with the special non-points victory was a $1 million payday.

Describing the city of Norman, Bell makes some comparisons to living in Huntersville, another bustling city close to Mooresville that continues to grow in popularity.

“I would say Norman is probably smaller than Charlotte. What Norman is to Oklahoma City, Mooresville, North Carolina is to Charlotte. I would say Norman is bigger than Mooresville, but Charlotte is bigger than Oklahoma City. They are similar to each other.”

Bell wasn’t looking to become a race driver, that is, until someone close to the family showed him what auto racing in Oklahoma was all about.

“None of my family was in motorsports,” Bell said. “I never really had a path to do it until a family friend went with me to the races when I was very young. My dad was a high school basketball coach.

“I love Oklahoma Sooners football, so I thought my path was going to be playing basketball or football. I likely wasn’t going to be good enough to make it a profession. That’s what I love to do and that’s what I wanted to do. Once I started going to races, I loved it and ate it up. The more that I did it, the more I became fairly successful and made me want to do it more.”

Bell didn’t grow up in a clan of racers such as the Allisons, the Bakers or Pettys, those who built their iconic legacies within NASCAR’s premier Cup Series division. One close friend of his father opened the door for Bell’s future destiny.

“I call him Uncle Will. His name is Will Orr,” Bell said. “He was a friend of my dad. He would take me to the races. His son, Daniel Orr, raced cars at the local dirt track. Uncle Will was the one that showed me the ropes. He taught us how to take care of the equipment and told us what equipment to get and the rest, you could say, is history.

“The first race I ever saw in my life was at I-44 Speedway and that’s in Oklahoma City. I was probably 4 years old (in 1998). I drove a car when I was 5, so I was 4 when I first went to the track. From there, I began driving micro-sprints.”

The World of Outlaws Sprint Car series is ultra-competitive and Bell’s success there gave him a large fan following. He was being noticed and winning against the best drivers in several states.

“Even though there isn’t any NASCAR racing in Oklahoma, the dirt track racing here is pretty healthy in the Oklahoma City area,” Bell said. “I-44 Speedway and Court City Raceway, those were the two area racetracks where I really sharpened my racing skills. Those are the two that I consider my home tracks.”

Bell remembered his first trip as a fan to one of his favorite tracks, a place that’s closest to Oklahoma on the Cup Series schedule.

“I believe my first time at a Cup Series race was at Texas Motor Speedway, which I consider to be my home NASCAR track,” Bell said. “I had different sponsors that wanted to go to NASCAR races, and we would go there for the fall Texas Cup race. That was the first time I saw the Cup Series in person. That was probably in 2005 or sometime around there.”

Bell became very successful as a Sprint Car driver, winning races and championships while drawing the attention of those highly respected in NASCAR circles. His best early ride came with Keith Koontz Motorsports, a team sponsored by Toyota at the time. Through Jack Irving, general manager of Toyota Racing Development, U.S.A, and Tyler Gibbs, president of TRD, Bell was given an opportunity to drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports in Late Models and his Truck Series equipment. Bell enjoyed seven wins with Busch from 2015 to 2017. Two years earlier, Bell’s first career start came at Iowa Speedway, a start that prepared him to race at Eldora Speedway in the Truck Series in New Weston, Ohio, a race he won on July 22, 2015. Then from 2017 through 2019, Bell collected 19 victories in NASCAR’s Xfinity Series.

“…It was really cool to obviously hear that I was going to run NASCAR events but also gear up to run the dirt race at Eldora,” Bell said. “That was really special, and I was fortunate enough to win that race. I think that really opened the door for me.”

Bell now has 12 official Cup Series victories to his credit, including three wins this season at Atlanta, Austin, and Phoenix (as well as the special North Wilkesboro All-Star Race). Being behind the wheel of his No. 20 Toyota is exactly where he wants to be for many years to come.

“I love driving race cars, period,” Bell said. “I’m fortunate enough to say that NASCAR is where I call home and what my job is. So I never, in a million years, thought I would be a NASCAR driver coming from Oklahoma.

“It’s just incredible,” Bell said. “I remember the day I signed my first contract (with JGR), it was like, ‘Ok, if we’re going this Toyota route, it’s Joe Gibbs Racing for bust.’ I’m very blessed to be here. The path to get here was not easy. Everything had to go right for me to end up with Joe Gibbs. On top of that, to end up with Adam Stevens as my crew chief with the No. 20 car is amazing. There are only 40 cars in the Cup Series and I have one of those spots and probably one of the best spots. It’s something that I’m very grateful for and something I don’t take lightly.”