Christopher Bell: ‘Flipping feels like it goes on forever’

Eight days after his truck flipped and barrel-rolled at Daytona, Christopher Bell will be back in the field for Saturday’s Great Clips 200 Truck series race (4:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1) at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Bell walked away from the last-lap wreck during the season-opening race at Daytona International Raceway, an accident which included more than 10 spins and tumbles.

“I was wondering, when is this thing going to stop?” Bell said Friday. “The flipping feels like it goes on forever. I was just really thankful it never hit hard on the cage or on the nose (of the car). When it stopped, there was a lot of adrenaline. I felt really good when I got out of the thing.”

Bell said he started to feel dizzy as he walked to the ambulance. He was treated and released from a local hospital later that night.

Bell said he had some bruising on his face, but was otherwise OK.

“When I woke up the next morning, I felt 100 percent until I got out of bed,” said Bell, who added he did not have a concussion. “After that, I wasn’t moving quite so fast.”

Dillon wants top-5 in Stewart car

Ty Dillon is hoping for the best Sunday when he subs for Tony Stewart in the No. 14 Chevy.

“It’s an honor to drive the 14 for Tony,” said Dillon, a full-time driver in the Xfinity series. “I have high expectations for this weekend. I always set my goals high. I want to run good in this car. I want to do good for Tony and Stewart-Haas Racing. I don’t see why we shouldn’t be able to run in the top-10 or top-15. I’m going to give it all I have.”

Stewart, who is retiring as a Cup driver after this season, is out indefinitely after he broke his back in a dune-buggy accident in January. Brian Vickers replaced Stewart at Daytona last week (finishing 26^th) and will again next week at Las Vegas.

Dillon will also run in Saturday’s Heads Up Georgia 250 Xfinity race.

Sign of the times

Only 39 of a possible 40 cars are entered for Sunday’s race, which would make it the smallest Cup field since 1996, when 37 cars were entered at a race at North Wilkesboro. With 36 charter-team cars, the three “open” teams entered are Wood Brothers Racing’s Ryan Blaney, The Motorsports Group’s Josh Wise and Premium Motorsports’ Cole Whitt. Eight open teams attempted to qualify last week at Daytona, with Blaney, Matt DiBenedetto, Robert Richardson Jr., and Michael McDowell making the field. DiBenedetto (BK Racing) and McDowell (Circle Sport-Leavine Family Racing) are driving for charter teams in the Atlanta race.

Cup fields have been reduced from 43 to 40 cars this season, with 36 spots guaranteed for the charter teams and the remaining four for open teams.

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Christopher Bell: ‘Flipping feels like it goes on forever’."