Timothy Peter "T. J." Bell Jr. (born August 25, 1980) is an American professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of Auto racing, automobile racing run on oval track racing, oval tracks and road courses. It originally used Production vehicle, production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifical ...

driver. He has primarily competed in

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

competition, driving in all three national touring series. He last competed part-time in the

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock cars. The series is o ...

, driving the No. 83

Chevrolet Silverado The Chevrolet Silverado is a range of trucks manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand. Introduced for the 1999 model year, the Silverado is the successor to the long-running Chevrolet C/K model line. Taking its name from the to ...

for

CMI Motorsports CMI Motorsports (formerly Ciccarelli Racing) is an American professional dirt track racing team that competes in the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, fielding the No. 49 Rocket XR1 part-time for Ray Ciccarelli. The team also previously fiel ...

and the No. 12 Silverado for

Young's Motorsports Young's Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and the ARCA Menards Series. In the Xfinity Series, they field the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth gene ...

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 The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, High Performance Driver Education, HPDE, Time trial, Time Trial, Road racing, Road Racing, Regularity rally, R ...

F2000 Championship Series The F2000 Championship Series is a North American–based Open wheel car, open wheel road racing series based on Formula Continental, a wings and slicks series that is designed to be the second step after Formula Ford, Formula F 1600. The seri ...

and won one out of the nine races he competed in. He soon moved up to the

U.S. F2000 National Championship The USF2000 Championship Presented by Continental Tire is an American racing series using an American variation of the Formula Ford standard, "F2000", that resumed operation for the 2010 season. As of 2022, it is sanctioned by the United States ...

and was named the national spokesman for the Special Wish Foundation. In 2000, he joined the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

Toyota Atlantic Series, driving for

Michael Shank Racing Meyer Shank Racing (MSR; formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American motorsport organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. History Atlantic Championship Michael Shank, co-owner of Meyer 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 The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car racing, sports car Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Flo ...

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

, and

24 Hours of LeMans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

. 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

for

Team Racing Team Racing was a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team. It was owned by former driver Phil Bonifield. The team fielded multiple trucks, usually with sponsorship from Red Line Oil and the Coverall Carports. Truck No. 23 history Team Rac ...

, his best finish a twelfth at

Dover International Speedway Dover Motor Speedway (formerly known as the Dover International Speedway from 2002 to 2021 and as the Dover Downs International Speedway from 1969 to 2001) is a oval track in Dover, Delaware. The venue has hosted major events since its inaugu ...

. 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 The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...

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 Kentucky Speedway is an inactive tri-oval intermediate speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. It has hosted various major races throughout its existence, including NASCAR and IndyCar races. The track is owned by Speedway Motorsports, LLC (SMI) and ...

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 SS-Green Light Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, fielding the No. 07 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet Camaro SS for multiple drivers and the No. 14 primari ...

truck in the Truck Series. In 2007, Bell signed to drive sixteen races for

Roush Fenway Racing Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, doing business as RFK Racing, is an American professional stock car organization that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. One of NASCAR's largest racing teams in the 2000s and early 2010s, Roush formerly ...

's No. 50

Ford F-150 The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks marketed and manufactured by Ford Motor Company since model year 1948 as a range of full-sized pickup trucks — positioned between Ford's Ranger and Super Duty pickup trucks. Alongs ...

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 The Racer's Group, or TRG, is a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship racing team located in Petaluma, California, owned by Kevin Buckler and his wife Debra. TRG has competed professionally in road racing since 1995. The team formerly competed in NA ...

when he replaced

Andy Lally Andrew Joseph Lally (born February 11, 1975) is an American former professional auto racing driver who currently serves as the president for the Trans Am Series. He competed full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the Audi R ...

in the No. 7. Bell impressed many, scoring five top tens for TRG before leaving to drive

Red Horse Racing Red Horse Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team was based in Mooresville, North Carolina. It was co-owned by former Mobil 1 marketing executive Tom DeLoach a ...

's No. 11 Toyota vacated by David Starr. In 2010, he drove the No. 50 for new team

MAKE Motorsports Beaver Motorsports (formerly MAKE Motorsports) is an American drag racing team. The team currently fields a Chevrolet Pro Stock entry in the NHRA. Beaver Motorsports formerly competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Tr ...

, 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 Joseph A. Falk (born January 30, 1951) is an American auto dealer and NASCAR Cup Series team owner, as well as a former stock car racing driver. He is the owner of Little Joe's Autos, an automobile dealership in the Virginia Tidewater. Driving ca ...

, a Virginia car dealer who owned

LJ Racing LJ Racing was a stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series between 1997 and 2000. Owned by Joe Falk, the team posted a best finish of fifth with driver Todd Bodine, and a best Winston West Series finish of second with Mik ...

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, in addition to making selected Sprint Cup Series starts for FAS Lane Racing. 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 A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

in the Truck and Xfinity Series. He has raced for various teams like

Niece Motorsports Niece Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Owned by Al Niece, it currently fields the No. 42 Chevrolet Silverado full-time for Matt Mills (racing driver), Matt ...

and

at the Truck level and

MBM Motorsports Motorsports Business Management LLC, operating as MBM Motorsports, Garage 66, Power Source, and sometimes known as Carl Long Motorsports, is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and NAS ...

and

Obaika Racing Obaika Racing was an African professional stock car racing team. The team was owned by African entrepreneur Victor Obaika. The team competed in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team formed in early 2015 and competed full-time ...

in the Xfinity tier. Bell was the spotter for

Corey LaJoie Corey Daniel LaJoie (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional stock car racing driver and analyst for ''NASCAR on Prime Video''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 01 Ford Mustang (seventh genera ...

in the NASCAR Cup Series, along with spotting for various other drivers in NASCAR's lower series.

Images

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

Xfinity Series

Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series

* 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.)

Rolex Sports Car Series

( key)

24 Hours of Daytona

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, T. J. Living people 1980 births Sportspeople from Sparks, Nevada Racing drivers from Nevada 24 Hours of Daytona drivers NASCAR drivers ARCA Menards Series drivers Atlantic Championship drivers U.S. F2000 National Championship drivers Meyer Shank Racing drivers RFK Racing drivers