When NASCAR Cup Series practice ended at Phoenix Raceway on Friday afternoon, the entire garage knew [autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] would be the driver to beat on Sunday. Bell started Stage 1 with some struggles, but after the first pit stop, the No. 20 car was on rails. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver rallied to win Stage 2 and then won the race by over five seconds.
Following his dominant victory at Phoenix, Bell got out of his car, stood on the roof, and talked about the piece crew chief Adam Stevens gave him. Like many others, Bell knew the type of car he had on Sunday afternoon.
REPOST TO CONGRATULATE CHRISTOPHER BELL ON HIS WIN AT PHOENIX RACEWAY! pic.twitter.com/LoPydaNJqI
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 10, 2024
“Man, this one feels really good,” Bell said. Just a credit to [Adam Stevens], man. Adam, my engineers, my crew chief, all the mechanics on this thing. You don’t get cars like that very often, as you know. Just super, super proud. Proud to be on this 20 car. This Rheem Camry was amazing today. I feel like we have capability of running races like this a lot. Hopefully this is the first of many this year.”
If Bell and the No. 20 team perform like they did on Sunday afternoon, this will be the first of many wins. It was a dominant performance and officially ranks as the most significant margin of victory in the NextGen car era. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver really flexed his muscles at Phoenix, and he hopes to be in position to do it again in the Championship 4 for a third straight year.
[lawrence-related id=8557]