TULSA, Okla. -- Christopher Bell's victory in the 2017 Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals epitomizes a personal triumph.
After having started on the front row three times, Bell finally outlasted his competition over the 55 green-flag laps on the quarter-mile dirt oval built inside the River Spirit Expo Center to become the first Oklahoma driver to win the Tulsa event in 23 years.
And yet it also epitomized quite a global effort in the world of motorsports. The Toyota-backed driver won in Toyota-backed equipment, part of a driver development program the manufacturer views as critical to its success.
The 22-year-old Bell firmly gripped the trophy after the win, but that isn't what he looked forward to about the triumph. He wants to see the shirt next year that shows all the Chili Bowl winning cars on the back.
"Growing up here in Oklahoma, this is the Daytona 500 for us," Bell said. "I remember coming here as a little kid and sitting on the frontstretch grandstands. Every year I would go buy the Chili Bowl T-shirt, and I loved being able to see all the cars on the back of the T-shirt.
"That is something that stood out to me as a little kid. Seeing my name on the back of the 2018 Chili Bowl T-shirt would mean just as much as holding a Golden Driller [trophy]."
Bell felt he had lost some past Chili Bowls and that he made costly mistakes. Bell, the 2013 USAC Midget national champion, earned his 36th career national victory Saturday.
There could have been more midget wins. But soon after he won that 2013 title, Toyota decided to put him on a path to stock cars. Bell, as a rookie in the Camping World Truck Series last year, made it to the final four, finishing third in the series standings. He has two career wins in the series -- in 2015 at Eldora and in 2016 at Gateway.
"I was adding up all the races I have just given away because I made a mistake -- there's a lot of purse money on that list," Bell said about his midget career. "Running pavement races has really helped me become a smarter racer. ... [The best in sprint cars] understand even though they are sprint-car races, they have the ability to run really hard and really smart at the same time.
"That's something I'm striving to get better at. Running the longer-distance races has really helped me."
He might never have had that experience without Toyota, the manufacturer that made two big announcements last week. The first was its new NASCAR Cup Series body style. The second was that Daniel Suarez, a driver it helped develop, would replace the retiring Carl Edwards.
Two days after the Edwards-Suarez announcement, Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson stood next to Bell's car and talked about why it was the only manufacturer to back cars and drivers in the Chili Bowl.
"This is where it really starts," Wilson said in the pit of successful midget team owner Keith Kunz. "In professional racing, this is where we cultivated not just a lot of talent, but relationships. ... If you don't have an eye on the horizon, if you don't have an eye three to five years out, you'll get caught out.
"It's pretty obvious if you watch these kids wheel these race cars -- a very light, overpowered car with no grip -- this is where you learn car control."
Toyota uses its relationship with supplier JBL to sponsor Bell in the KBM truck. Toyota expects nothing less than Bell being in contention for the truck title.
"He won very quickly," Wilson said about Bell's transition to stock cars. "Obviously, we think that he is capable, and we're really excited to see him race for a truck championship. Our expectation is he's got to be right there.
"He got to Miami, but so now it's his second full season getting back to the same tracks, and I think that discipline, taking care of his car, all those skill sets that he continues to develop. He's never had any problem with his speed."
Toyota, which entered Cup racing in 2007, didn't always have this outlook on driver development, Wilson said. Having watched Ford lose drivers it developed -- stout drivers such as Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne -- over the years indicated to Toyota that it shouldn't spend money in driver development.
"Our philosophy was drivers are team owners' responsibilities, and I'd go as far to say we really shouldn't get involved. ... We let that [history] hold us back," Wilson said. "After participating a few years in NASCAR, we changed our perspective.
"We come to understand that while it's not a perfect science and you're still going to lose some drivers along the way, the investment and return -- if you can get one superstar out of five, that is not a bad return."
They have quietly said they have one in Bell, who still is trying to have the same confidence in a full-bodied car on pavement as he does an open-wheel car on dirt.
"Whenever I come to these [dirt midget] races, I know that I can do it just because of the success that I've had," Bell said. "When I'm watching practice, I'm not worried about what lap times other guys are running or if I'm fast or I'm slow because I know I'll be OK.
"That's something I need to get better at when I go truck racing. I'm always worried about what lap times they are running, what lap times I am running and how fast am I? I guess it's just believing in yourself, and I seem to be able to believe in myself really well when I come dirt racing."
Bell in some ways can't believe his career has evolved the way it has.
"It's awesome for all the kids growing up to see that there is a path to do it if you can win enough races and get in the right opportunities," Bell said. "It's a dream come true to be where I am running trucks, and honestly, I never dreamed of being in NASCAR.
"I just didn't think it was a possibility."