In 2024, Bell returns to JRM as the crew chief for driver Brandon Jones, and he intends to improve on the already-rich legacy the team has forged since 2014. The No. 9 team owns all three of the team’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championships (2014, 2017 and 2018) and Bell was an integral part of the two most recent crowns.
The 33-year-old Georgia native will lead Jones and the rest of the team into the 2024 season with the goal of adding another title to the team’s resume after spending the 2023 season as the lead engineer for the No. 42 NASCAR Cup Series entry at Legacy Motor Club for crew chief Luke Lambert, with whom he worked in his final season as an engineer at JRM.
Bell arrived at JRM in 2017 as the second engineer on the team’s No. 9 Chevrolet driven by William Byron and was part of the championship-winning effort that season. The following year, Bell was the lead engineer for the team as Tyler Reddick captured the second straight title.
In 2019, Bell again reprised his role atop the pit box for rookie Noah Gragson’s first season behind the wheel, and stayed with Gragson through 2022—when Luke Lambert took over crew chief duties--amassing 13 victories, 60 top-five and 93 top-10 finishes in 132 starts.
Bell said his history at JR Motorsports has shaped his approach to his first season as leader of the No. 9 team at JRM, citing Elenz’ engineering background and the team-building and leadership tenets of Lambert.
Bell got his start in motorsports in the ARCA Menards Series as a car chief for Ken Schrader Racing, serving in that capacity through 2014. He transitioned to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2015 as an engineer for Red Horse Racing, moving to GMS Racing in the same series the following season.
Bell, who graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a degree in mechanical engineering, is married to wife Ashley and the two have one son, Anderson.