T.J. Bell making transition to Truck Series well

Nothing in T.J. Bell’s racing background suggested that he would ever find himself driving a truck at Martinsville Speedway.

The 28-year-old Sparks, Nev., native cut his teeth as an open wheel driver, competing in the Formula 2000 and CART Toyota Atlantic Series. He raced in the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of LeMans.

But in 2003, Bell followed in the footsteps of former open wheel stars like Tony Stewart and made the transition to stock car racing. He drove in a handful of races in what is now the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, then moved to the ARCA Series for 2004 and finished third in points. He returned to the trucks in 2005 and has remained ever since.

In 2009, Bell is off to the best start of his career. He sits eighth in Truck Series points heading into Saturday’s Kroger 250 at Martinsville.

The .526-mile, paper clip-shaped oval requires a style of driving that Bell is not fully accustomed to, but in a telephone interview last week, he said he was looking forward to coming here.

“It’s definitely a challenge for me,” said Bell. “Coming from open wheel, I never did the Saturday night short tracks. … It’s very easy to overdrive; it took a lot of following the veterans around (to learn how to handle it).”

In 50 career Truck Series starts, Bell has compiled nine top-10 finishes and one top-five, which came last month at California Speedway. He placed 11th at Daytona and ended up 12th in the last race in Atlanta. That day, Bell was running fifth before pitting during the final caution. His team opted for two tires instead of four and lost track position in the closing laps. “That could’ve been a top-five,” he said.

In the October 2008 Martinsville race, Bell charged from his 29th starting spot and finished sixth while his Red Horse Racing teammate, Johnny Benson, went to Victory Lane.

Benson, who eventually captured the series championship, and Bell are among several drivers who have begun the 2009 campaign without full-time primary sponsorship. The Camping World Truck Series has been off for the last two weeks, and Bell used the down time to focus on that.

“It gives us a little time to work on that sponsorship angle,” he said. “It’s something where we’ve got a lot of lines in the water, and hopefully something will bite.”

Regardless of what happens, Bell and his team aren’t planning to shut down. “We don’t have a set number (of races),” he said. “We’re going to as many as we can. If we keep running well, I think we’ll keep seeing the truck on the track.”