Bell excluded after crash.

Visteon/Patrick Racing driver Townsend Bell had a streak of three consecutive points paying finishes snapped at the Molson Indy Toronto when CART officials excluded him following a crash with Bruno Junqueira.

Bell, driving the #20 Visteon/Patrick Racing entry, with Toyota power and Bridgestone tires, was running in 12th place when he became entangled with Bruno Junqueira while trying to pass Michel Jourdain Jr. late in the race knocking both himself and Junqueira from the competition. Although Bell was able to make it back to the pits under his own power, CART officials went to the length of refusing to let him back on the circuit and Bell finished in 15th place.

The 27-year-old native of California battled a poor handling car for much of the race, but had fought his way into a points paying position with the help of a superb race strategy designed by the Visteon/Patrick Racing duo of owner Pat Patrick and General Manager Jim McGee.

Starting 16th, his lowest starting position in five Champ Car road/street races, Bell was running in 17th place when the Visteon/Patrick Racing Team decided to gamble and pit him out of sequence during a green flag on lap 16. As the race unfolded the pit strategy became apparent. Bell was able to take advantage of a clear track when the cars ahead of him pitted on schedule thus improving his position.

He pitted for the final time on lap 78 and slowly, but surely, began to work his way back through the field. On lap 91 of the 112-lap contest he passed Adrian Fernandez during a restart to move into 12th place. With a possible top-ten finish looming, Bell was trying to make up as much time as possible before the cars ahead of him pitted for their final time.

Unfortunately, on lap 92, while making the pass attempt on Jourdain he hit Junqueira. After getting his car restarted he returned to the pits for repairs, but CART officials decided not to allow him to rejoin the competition.

"Coming out of Turn #2 I got a run on Michel Jourdain," Bell said. "Jourdain went to the inside and I went wide. When we got into the braking zone he moved me over and forced me wide up near the wall. I got into the marbles so I got on the brakes. That got me a little sideways and I hit Bruno Junqueira," Bell explained. "Bruno was an innocent bystander, but there was nothing I could do. It is unfortunate," Bell noted.

"I guess the CART officials decided that they were not going to let me continue. It is too bad because the Visteon/Patrick Racing car was starting to come back and could have kept going. We didn't have the best handling car, but I passed Adrian Fernandez on the restart for 12th place and we were just trying to fight at the end for some points," Bell concluded.

Bell, who has qualified in the top-ten in five of the eight races this year, has finished three of the eight contests, five of his ten career Champ Car starts and two of five street/road races. He is currently 17th in the championship race with 19 points and leads the rookie standings.