[autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] had one of the fastest cars on the race track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway but it wasn’t enough to claim the victory. In the closing laps, Bell tracked down Kyle Larson but needed one more lap to have a shot at the victory. The No. 20 car reached Larson on the final corner of the final lap and finished in second place.
Bell now sits three points below the cut-line and while it was a fantastic day in terms of making up ground in the point standings, a locked spot in the Championship 4 was so close. Following the event, Bell talked about coming up just short of Larson and a guaranteed spot at Phoenix Raceway.
“I mean, I don’t know what else I could have done so…very I don’t know,” Bell said. “I feel like that was my moment. That was my moment to make the Final Four. Didn’t quite capture it. I don’t know. Coming to the checkered there, I knew he was going to be blocking, so I’m like, ‘I’m going to try to go high.’ He went high. I don’t even know if I had a run to get by him there coming to the line. Just wasn’t enough.”
Kyle Larson holds off a hard-charging Christopher Bell to WIN at Las Vegas! pic.twitter.com/HnqyCSvUgZ
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) October 15, 2023
“A great day, great day for sure to get the stage points, get a second-place finish out of it. I think I saw we’re minus two, so we’re not out of it by any means. It would have been nice to lock it in.”
Bell was very impressive at Las Vegas but now he needs to look forward if he wants to make the Championship 4. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has not been strong at Homestead-Miami Speedway but needs a good points day. Bell can always win at Martinsville Speedway like in 2022; however, he needs to maximize points over the next two weeks.
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