With the 2025 Chili Bowl less than a month away, Christopher Bell took advantage of Joe Gibbs Racing’s newly relaxed policy on dirt track racing to knock the rust off his midget skills by dominating and winning the Jr. Knepper 55 on an indoor track in Southern Illinois Center in DuQuoin, Illinois.
Bell set the fastest time in hot laps for the POWRi Outlaw Non-Wing Micro League with a lap under 10 seconds (9.433), lined up seventh in his heat before quickly storming to the front, and led all 25 laps of the feature. And while the non-winged micro do not completely replace the experience of larger midgets, Bell believes it was an important step toward winning his fourth Chili Bowl. Bell was victorious for three consecutive years, from 2017 through 2019.
“That race was completely different than the midget one,” Bell said of his POWRI win in a news release. “These micros take a lot to get around the top here and this thing was on a rail with grip for days. I definitely have more confidence heading into the Tulsa Expo Center.”
Bell is not yet listed on the most recent entry list, which features more than 300 cars, but he is expected to join fellow NASCAR stars Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch in the 39th running of the race that began in 1987.
