DALLAS (July 9, 2025) – The NASCAR Cup Series goes coast-to-coast next week, competing in Northern California on Sunday at Sonoma Raceway and then traveling 2,900 miles eastward to the shores of Delaware for next Sunday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway.
In between, Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing, will spend Wednesday and Thursday, July 16-17, in Rossburg, Ohio, at the famed Eldora Speedway where he will compete in the first two nights of the 42nd annual Kings Royal, one of sprint car racing’s crown-jewel events.
“NASCAR has the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Brickyard 400 and Southern 500. Sprint car racing has the Kings Royal and the Knoxville Nationals. Those are always the big events,” said Bell, who made his name in sprint cars and midgets before establishing himself as a perennial championship contender in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“The Kings Royal is a huge event and it’s always an honor to be a part of it, even if it’s only for the first two nights.”
Bell will drive the No. 69k 410 winged sprint car for team owner and National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Don Kreitz, Jr, in Wednesday night’s Double Down Duels and Thursday night’s Joker’s Jackpot. He will be easy to spot. Interstate Batteries, the leading replacement battery brand in the United States, will sponsor Bell in his quest with its traditional bright green livery adorning the No. 69k.
“Interstate Batteries’ commitment to motorsports is impressive,” Bell said. “They’re synonymous with NASCAR because they’ve been with Joe Gibbs Racing since its beginning – 34 years and counting. But Interstate Batteries has been on dragsters, powerboats, bikes, sprint cars – all kinds of racing machines. To get a win at Eldora, and to do it with Interstate Batteries, would make for a heckuva night. They’ve bought a suite and they’re all coming in for the two nights I’m racing. Would love to be able to deliver for them.”
With 12 career Cup Series wins, three of which were earned earlier this year, Bell’s delivery skills make Amazon drivers look over their shoulders.
His winning ways began early, from go-karts at age 6 to USAC’s top-three national touring divisions as a teen, where he campaigned in Midget, Silver Crown and Sprint Car – three very different types of open-wheel racecars – on a variety of tracks that included both asphalt and dirt.
“Dirt racing, for sure, gives you versatility, and you have to be versatile to be successful at it. You have to be good at adapting to ever-changing track conditions and the conditions the cars throw your way,” said Bell, who racked up 29 career USAC wins, along with the 2013 National Midget title. “That’s something I grew up with, just racing different disciplines, different styles of cars, and I think that’s translated to my NASCAR career, just being able to not get set in your ways, and racing with an open mind and knowing that sometimes different lanes are going to open up. You use different driving styles and techniques, and I do think that comes from my background.”
Returning to his dirt-track roots allows Bell to do what he loves while also honing his race craft to be good no matter what he races or where.
“Racers race, and the more you race, the better you are,” said Bell, who believes that being in race shape brings a heightened level of physical fitness to his craft. “You can go lift weights and run as much as you want, but being in that racing environment and focusing on the task at hand, it’s different – a lot different – and there’s no way you can prepare for it other than doing it.”
Doing it at Eldora and, specifically, during the Kings Royal, brings a heightened level of difficulty. The event features a who’s who of sprint car racing’s elite from the nascent Kubota High Limit Racing and the established World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. It is four straight nights of intense racing action.
Bell would be a part of all of it, but his NASCAR commitments curb his participation to just the $12,000-to win Double Down Duels on Wednesday night and the $100,000-to-win Joker’s Jackpot on Thursday night. He will have to watch the $25,000-to-win The Knight Before on Friday night and, of course, the marquee $200,000-to win Kings Royal on Saturday night from his motorcoach in the infield at Dover, each of which will be livestreamed on DirtVision beginning at 6:45 p.m. EDT.
“Eldora is just an amazing facility,” Bell said. “It has a ton of history and it’s been around forever. It’s just a special place.”
Bell won his first race at Eldora not in a sprint car or midget, but in a Toyota Tundra when he competed in the 2015 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the high-banked clay oval. It was a prelude to more Eldora wins, as two months later in September, Bell won both the USAC Midget and Silver Crown features of the 4-Crown Nationals. The Norman, Oklahoma, native secured his first sprint car win at Eldora when he drove a 360 winged sprint car to victory in May 2016 during the NRA Sprint Invaders portion of the annual Johnny Appleseed Classic. Bell nabbed his second sprint car win at Eldora when he won the 2017 edition of The Knight Before. His third, and most recent, Eldora sprint car win came in October 2018 when he won the track’s #LastCallForThemAll season finale. Bell’s last two sprint car victories at Eldora have come with the World of Outlaws.
“Sprint car racing is just so real and raw and true. You can’t fake it,” said Bell, a six-time World of Outlaws feature winner. “You’ve got to qualify well and you’ve got to race well. There are no pit stops. It’s just the driver and the car once it’s on the track. You still have a team. You have a crew chief and mechanics who work on the car, but it’s all really in your hands, and you can’t fake your way around a sprint car, that’s for sure.”
Bell’s week of speed begins this Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EDT with the Toyota/Save Mart 350k from the 1.99-mile, 10-turn Sonoma road course, broadcast live on TNT and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Wednesday night’s Double Down Duels and Thursday night’s Joker’s Jackpot will both be livestreamed on FloRacing beginning at 6 p.m., with the Joker’s Jackpot also being shown live on FS1, with that linear broadcast starting at 7 p.m. Next Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 from the concrete-clad Dover mile goes green at 2 p.m. EDT with live coverage on TNT and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
