T. J. Bell Explained

T. J. Bell
Birth Name:	Timothy Peter Bell Jr.
Birth Date:	25 August 1980
Birth Place:	Sparks, Nevada, U.S.
Achievements:	1989–1995 Nevada State Go-Kart Champion
Awards:	2004 ARCA Re/MAX Series Rookie of the Year
Total Cup Races:	11
Years In Cup:	3
Prev Cup Pos:	49th
Previous Year:	2015
Best Cup Pos:	45th (2011)
First Cup Race:	2011 Showtime Southern 500 (Darlington)
Last Cup Race:	2015 Bojangles' Southern 500 (Darlington)
Cup Wins:	0
Cup Top Tens:	0
Cup Poles:	0
Total Busch Races:	69
Years In Busch:	7
Prev Busch Pos:	39th
Prev Busch Year:	2016
Best Busch Pos:	25th (2012)
First Busch Race:	2005 Ameriquest 300 (Fontana)
Last Busch Race:	2016 Food City 300 (Bristol)
Busch Wins:	0
Busch Top Tens:	0
Busch Poles:	0
Total Truck Races:	121
Years In Truck:	15
Prev Truck Pos:	71st
Prev Truck Year:	2020
Best Truck Pos:	15th (2009)
First Truck Race:	2003 Lucas Oil 250 (Mesa Marin)
Last Truck Race:	2020 Baptist Health 200 (Homestead)
Truck Wins:	0
Truck Top Tens:	13
Truck Poles:	0
Updated:	November 11, 2020

Timothy Peter "T. J." Bell Jr. (born August 25, 1980) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He has primarily competed in NASCAR competition, driving in all three national touring series. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, driving the No. 83 Chevrolet Silverado for CMI Motorsports and the No. 12 Silverado for Young's Motorsports.

Racing career

Bell began racing at the age of eight in go-karts and went on to win six consecutive championships in the state of Nevada. In 1997, he began racing in the SCCA F2000 Championship Series and won one out of the nine races he competed in. He soon moved up to the U.S. F2000 National Championship and was named the national spokesman for the Special Wish Foundation. In 2000, he joined the CART Toyota Atlantic Series, driving for Michael Shank Racing and posting five top-five finishes. After another tun in Toyota Atlantic, Bell joined the ASCARI factory team, participating in several endurance races for the team, including the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and 24 Hours of LeMans.

In 2003, Bell switched to stock car racing and began racing in the Truck Series. He drove a total of nine races in the No. 86 Defiant Clothing Chevrolet Silverado for Team Racing, his best finish a twelfth at Dover International Speedway. He also drove three races in the No. 53 truck owned by Mary Ward, but did not finish higher than 23rd. The following season, he moved to the ARCA RE/MAX Series to drive for Powertech Motorsports. He finished third in points and was named Rookie of the Year. He made eighteen starts in ARCA in 2005 and returned to the Truck Series, finishing sixteenth at Kentucky Speedway in a one-race deal with Glynn Motorsports. In the summer of 2005, he was hired by DCT Motorsports to drive their No. 36 Pontiac, earning a best finish of 22nd in eight races.

He drove a limited schedule for Bobby Jones Racing in 2006 in the ARCA Series, as well as driving the No. 07 Green Light Racing truck in the Truck Series. In 2007, Bell signed to drive sixteen races for Roush Fenway Racing's No. 50 Ford F-150 in the Trucks in 2007. Despite driving in elite equipment he had only one top-ten finish and ended the year 22nd in points. He finished out 2008 with TRG Motorsports when he replaced Andy Lally in the No. 7. Bell impressed many, scoring five top tens for TRG before leaving to drive Red Horse Racing's No. 11 Toyota vacated by David Starr. In 2010, he drove the No. 50 for new team MAKE Motorsports, and will drive with them in 2011.

Bell made his Cup Series debut at the May Darlington race, driving the No. 50 Chevrolet for Joe Falk, a Virginia car dealer who owned LJ Racing from 1997 to 2000. The car finished 38th after the transmission gave out after 67 laps. Bell ran several more races later in the year, attempting a run for Rookie of the Year honors.

In 2012, Bell ran full-time in the Nationwide Series for MAKE Motorsports,^[1] in addition to making selected Sprint Cup Series starts for FAS Lane Racing.^[2] He also ran selected races in the Truck Series for JJC Racing. In early August MAKE Motorsports began skipping races due to a lack of funding.

Since 2012, Bell has been a journeyman in the Truck and Xfinity Series. He has raced for various teams like Niece Motorsports and CMI Motorsports at the Truck level and MBM Motorsports and Obaika Racing in the Xfinity tier.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Bell is now a spotter for Corey LaJoie in the NASCAR Cup Series, along with spotting for various other drivers in NASCAR's lower series.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (

Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36		Pts	Ref
2011	LTD Powersports	50	Toyota	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR 38	DOV	CLT DNQ	KAN DNQ	POC 39	MCH	SON	DAY	KEN DNQ	NHA																		45th	29	^[6]
			Chevy																				IND 42	POC DNQ	GLN 37	MCH DNQ	BRI DNQ	ATL DNQ	RCH DNQ	CHI	NHA DNQ	DOV	KAN	CLT
	TRG Motorsports	77	Ford																																TAL DNQ	MAR	TEX	PHO
	FAS Lane Racing	32	Ford																																				HOM 29
2012				DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	KAN	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT 31	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	KEN	DAY	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH 33	BRI	ATL 30	RCH	CHI 30	NHA	DOV 33	TAL	CLT	KAN	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	68th	0^1	^[7]
2015	Premium Motorsports	62	Chevy	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	MAR	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	KAN	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	POC	GLN DNQ	MCH	BRI													49th	7	^[8]
		98	Ford																									DAR 37	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	CLT	KAN		MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35		Pts	Ref
2005	McGill Motorsports	36	Chevy	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	NSH	BRI	TEX	PHO	TAL	DAR	RCH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR	GTY	IRP	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL 38	RCH 24	DOV 22	KAN 35	CLT 34	MEM 41	TEX 34	PHO 36	HOM	69th	517	^[9]
2011	JJC Racing	13	Dodge	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	TAL	NSH	RCH	DAR	DOV	IOW	CLT	CHI	MCH	ROA	DAY	KEN	NHA	NSH	IRP	IOW	GLN 42	CGV												122nd	0^1	^[10]
	MAKE Motorsports	50	Chevy																									BRI DNQ	ATL 27	RCH DNQ	CHI 43	DOV 42	KAN 42	CLT 23	TEX 41	PHO	HOM DNQ
2012				DAY 24	PHO 29	LVS 31	BRI 34	CAL 27	TEX 26	RCH 28	TAL 31	DAR 32	IOW 27	CLT 30	DOV 24	MCH 32	ROA 37	KEN 27	DAY 39		CHI 38	IND 39	IOW 36	GLN	CGV	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN		CLT DNQ	KAN	TEX 43	PHO	HOM			25th	258	^[11]
			Toyota																	NHA 35
	The Motorsports Group	47	Chevy																												DOV 41
2013		42		DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	IOW 37	MCH	ROA	KEN	DAY	NHA	CHI 36	IND	IOW 37		MOH DNQ	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN 38									45th	102	^[12]
		46																						GLN 38
		40																													DOV 28	KAN 33	CLT 28	TEX 32	PHO 37	HOM 38
2014	JGL Racing	93	Dodge	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	DAR	RCH	TAL	IOW	CLT	DOV	MCH	ROA	KEN	DAY	NHA	CHI	IND	IOW	GLN	MOH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	KAN	CLT	TEX	PHO 38	HOM 15			104th	0^1	^[13]
2015		26	Toyota	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	IOW	CLT	DOV	MCH	CHI 23	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	IOW					DAR 36	RCH	CHI 38	KEN 35	DOV 36	CLT 36	KAN 36	TEX 38	PHO 36	HOM 39			103rd	0^1	^[14]
	MBM Motorsports	40	Toyota																				GLN QL^†	MOH	BRI	ROA
2016	JGL Racing	24	Toyota	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO 26	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	DOV																										39th	89	^[15]
	MBM Motorsports	40	Dodge											CLT DNQ
		13													POC 32
	Obaika Racing	97	Chevy													MCH 28	IOW	DAY	KEN 28					MOH 32	BRI 31	ROA	DAR	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO	HOM
		77																		NHA 27	IND DNQ	IOW 38	GLN 38
^† - Qualified but replaced by Morgan Shepherd

Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25		Pts	Ref
2003	Team Racing	86	Chevy	DAY	DAR	MMR 18	MAR 28	CLT	DOV 12	TEX	MEM	MLW 28	KAN 25	KEN 29	GTW 28	MCH	IRP 25	NSH 26	BRI	RCH	NHA								26th	1059	^[16]
	Pro Motion Motorsports	53	Chevy																			CAL 30
			Ford																				LVS 23	SBO	TEX 27	MAR	PHO	HOM
2005	Glynn Motorsports	65	Dodge	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	GTY	MFD	CLT	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	KAN	KEN 16	MEM	IRP	NSH	BRI	RCH	NHA	LVS	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	75th	115	^[17]
2006	Green Light Racing	07	Chevy	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	GTY	CLT	MFD	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	KAN	KEN	MEM	IRP	NSH	BRI	NHA 21	LVS	TAL	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	77th	105	^[18]
2007	Roush Fenway Racing	50	Ford	DAY	CAL	ATL 26	MAR 23	KAN 22	CLT 9	MFD 13	DOV 30	TEX 23	MCH 20	MLW	MEM	KEN	IRP	NSH	BRI	GTW 24	NHA 16	LVS 31	TAL 31	MAR	ATL 30	TEX 17	PHO 15	HOM 17	22nd	1569	^[19]
2008	TRG Motorsports	7	Chevy	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	MFD	DOV	TEX 31	MCH 20	MLW 29	MEM 18	KEN 25	IRP 7	NSH 19	BRI 6	GTW 29	NHA 10	LVS 8	TAL 8	MAR 6	ATL 9	TEX 32	PHO 27	HOM 12	22nd	1906	^[20]
2009	Red Horse Racing	11		DAY 11	CAL 5	ATL 12	MAR 31	KAN 22	CLT 30	DOV 23	TEX 14	MCH 18	MLW 28	MEM 18	KEN 23	IRP 15	NSH 10	BRI 8	CHI 15	IOW 7	GTW 24	NHA 12	LVS 12	MAR 30	TAL 29	TEX 23	PHO 13	HOM 10	15th	2767	^[21]
2010	MAKE Motorsports	50	Chevy	DAY	ATL	MAR	NSH	KAN	DOV	CLT 27	TEX	MCH	IOW	GTY	IRP	POC	NSH	DAR 26	BRI	CHI	KEN	NHA	LVS	MAR	TAL	TEX 19	PHO	HOM	68th	273	^[22]
2011				DAY 31	PHO	DAR 22	MAR	NSH	DOV	CLT 31	KAN	TEX	KEN	IOW	NSH	IRP	POC	MCH	BRI	ATL	CHI	NHA	KEN	LVS	TAL	MAR			103rd	0^1	^[23]
	JJC Racing	0	Ford																								TEX 32	HOM
2012			Ram	DAY	MAR	CAR	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	KEN	IOW	CHI 34	POC															102nd	0^1	^[24]
			Ford												MCH 35	BRI	ATL	IOW	KEN	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM
2013	MAKE Motorsports	1	Chevy	DAY	MAR	CAR DNQ	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	KEN	IOW	ELD	POC	MCH	BRI	MSP	IOW	CHI	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM				NA	-	^[25]
2014		50		DAY	MAR	KAN 17	CLT 18	DOV 15	TEX 18	GTW 19	KEN 25	IOW 24	ELD 21	POC 29	MCH 25	BRI 28	MSP 21	CHI 26	NHA 25	LVS 25	TAL	MAR 36	TEX 25	PHO	HOM				22nd	352	^[26]
2015	Premium Motorsports	94	Chevy	DAY	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	GTW	IOW	KEN	ELD	POC	MCH	BRI	MSP 13	CHI	NHA	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM			98th	0^1	^[27]
2017	Niece Motorsports	45	Chevy	DAY DNQ	ATL 17	MAR 24	KAN	CLT 14	DOV 23	TEX 14	GTW 15		KEN 26	ELD	POC 14	MCH 16	BRI 21	MSP	CHI	NHA 16					PHO 30	HOM 16			20th	257	^[28]
		38										IOW 29									LVS 24	TAL	MAR	TEX
2018				DAY	ATL	LVS	MAR	DOV	KAN	CLT	TEX	IOW	GTW	CHI	KEN	ELD	POC	MCH	BRI	MSP	LVS 21	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM			73rd	16	^[29]
2019				DAY	ATL	LVS	MAR	TEX	DOV	KAN 26	CLT	TEX	IOW	GTW	CHI	KEN	POC 26	ELD	MCH 29	BRI	MSP	LVS	TAL	MAR	PHO	HOM			60th	30	^[30]
2020	CMI Motorsports	83	Chevy	DAY	LVS	CLT 33	ATL 38																						71st	15	^[31]
	Niece Motorsports	40	Chevy					HOM 35	POC	KEN	TEX	KAN	KAN	MCH	DAY	DOV	GTW	DAR	RCH	BRI	LVS	TAL	KAN	TEX	MAR	PHO

* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

ARCA Re/Max Series

(key) (

Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Re/Max Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23		Pts	Ref
2004	Brad Kemp Motorsports	08	Chevy	DAY 20	NSH 30	SLM 10	KEN 22	TOL 13	CLT 9	KAN 11	POC 11	MCH 24	SBO 6	BLN 5	KEN 13	GTW 8	POC 5	LER 5	NSH 6	ISF 28	TOL 5	DSF 3	CHI 2*	SLM 7	TAL 6		3rd	5140	^[32]
2005	Hardcore Motorsports			DAY 6																							30th	1570	^[33]
	James Hylton Motorsports	48	Chevy		NSH 39	SLM 2	KEN 40	TOL 5	LAN 30	MIL 7	POC 31	MCH 20	KAN	KEN 33	BLN	POC	GTW	LER	NSH	MCH	ISF 29	TOL	DSF	CHI	SLM	TAL
2006	Bobby Jones Racing	50		DAY 9	NSH 4	SLM 21	WIN 2	KEN 13	TOL 12	POC 25																	30th	1615	^[34]
	Andy Belmont Racing	1	Ford								MCH DNQ	KAN	KEN	BLN	POC	GTW	NSH
		20																MCH 17	ISF	MIL	TOL	DSF	CHI	SLM	TAL	IOW

Rolex Sports Car Series

(key)

24 Hours of Daytona

Notes and References

1. Web site: Nationwide Series Silly Season Page. Adamczyk. Jay. January 31, 2012. Jayski's Silly Season Site. ESPN. 2012-01-31. 2012-02-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20120215104757/http://www.jayski.com/nationwide/nationwide.htm. dead.
2. Web site: Green Smoke and TJ Bell Join FAS Lane Racing for Coke 600. May 22, 2012. FAS Lane Racing. 2012-06-11. dead. https://archive.today/20130122223548/http://faslaneracing.com/2012/05/22/green-smoke-and-tj-bell-join-fas-lane-racing-for-coke-600/. January 22, 2013.
3. News: Eggert. Seth. TJ Bell Looking to Build on Niece Motorsports Success. Motorsports Tribune. May 18, 2020.
4. CMI Motorsports welcomes TJ Bell to the teams driver lineup. Speedway Digest. CMI Motorsports. May 18, 2020. May 18, 2020.
5. News: Obaika Racing Takes on Bell for Michigan!. Obaika Racing. June 10, 2016. May 18, 2020.
6. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
7. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
8. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
9. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2005 NASCAR Busch Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
10. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
11. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
12. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2013 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
13. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2014 NASCAR Nationwide Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
14. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
15. Web site: T. J. Bell – 2016 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. April 3, 2023.
16. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
17. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
18. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
19. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
20. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
21. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
22. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
23. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
24. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2012 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
25. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2013 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
26. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2014 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
27. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
28. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. January 2, 2019.
29. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2018 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. January 2, 2019.
30. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. May 10, 2019.
31. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2020 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. November 11, 2020.
32. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2004 ARCA Re/Max Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
33. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2005 ARCA Re/Max Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.
34. Web site: T.J. Bell – 2006 ARCA Re/Max Series Results. Racing-Reference. October 21, 2015.