Christopher Bell reacts to Joe Gibbs Racing lifting its dirt racing restrictions in 2024. Find out what Bell had to say about the decision!
[autotag]Joe Gibbs Racing[/autotag] drivers will be able to compete in more dirt racing events moving forward. On Monday, The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck reported that Joe Gibbs Racing will lift dirt racing restrictions for its NASCAR Cup Series drivers. Of the four drivers, [autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag], who has won three Chili Bowl Nationals, is the most notable.
“I was definitely caught off guard by the change of policy,” Bell said. “I was super shocked, but with [Chase Briscoe] coming on board and [Ty Gibbs] growing an interest in dirt racing, it’s nice we have the majority of our team aligned with it now…It’s refreshing knowing I’ll be able to do whatever I want to do. I’m super excited to reconnect with my dirt fan base and see everybody at a dirt track soon.”
Bell also posted a message on social media to his fans, saying, “See you guys at a dirt track soon.” With limited track time in the Cup Series, racing in other forms of competition has been beneficial to many NASCAR drivers in the top 3 levels. Now, Joe Gibbs Racing will see those same benefits once again as Bell, Briscoe, Gibbs, and Hamlin will be allowed to run approved dirt racing events.
The events of NASCAR’s Cup Series Championship 4 decider at Martinsville are still raw for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, on the outside looking in as four other drivers prepare to fight it out for the championship in Phoenix on Sunday. “I …
The events of NASCAR’s Cup Series Championship 4 decider at Martinsville are still raw for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, on the outside looking in as four other drivers prepare to fight it out for the championship in Phoenix on Sunday.
“I feel cheated,” Bell said. “I feel cheated out of a chance to compete for a championship. It all stems from what happened [with] 15, 20 [laps] to go – whenever the race got fixed, manipulated by Chevrolet. That forced our hands to do what we did, and ultimately it forced me into a mistake on the last lap to get into the wall, and I feel like I should never have been in that position. Had the race been run fairly, the No. 24 car (William Byron) would’ve lost enough spots to get me into the final race.”
Bell was penalized after the finish of the Martinsville race for wall-riding on the final lap while trying to get around Bubba Wallace and secure enough points to make the Championship 4 at the expense of Byron. Byron, meanwhile, had three other Chevrolet-powered cars holding station behind him to help him preserve his track position. Bell qualified for the Championship 4 ahead of Byron on a tie-break based on where they crossed the finish line, but the penalty dropped him from 18th to 22nd. Byron finished sixth, and inherited Bell’s Championship 4 spot when the penalty was announced.
Should Christopher Bell race for the NASCAR Championship?
“I hate calling the last lap ‘a move’ because it was not a move,” Bell said. “My intentions were never to ride the wall. I didn’t gain an advantage riding the wall, so it was not a move, and I don’t believe that I broke the rule.
“I feel like I should be in the Championship 4. In the race, when the manipulation happened, it was clear that I needed a position, and with the No. 23 (Wallace) dropping back, we got that position and whenever we crossed the finish line, (my) No. 20 car was in. So with the cards that were dealt, the No. 20 car was in position to make the championship event, and we’re not in it.”
Bell said that he was not aware of his point situation until the closing laps of the race.
“I was informed with probably 20 or 25 [laps] to go that the No. 24 was bleeding positions,” he said. “And it appeared at that point that we were going to be fine and make it on points. As the run continued, I actually got visuals on the No. 24 car and saw him backing the field up. Then it was probably 10 to go when I realized what was going on and that the No. 24 was indeed done bleeding positions, so I thought at that point that my race was over. I didn’t know that the No. 23 car was a point for me until the last lap. I knew that I had to pass him, and I got by him going in to Turn 3, and unfortunately I slid into the wall.”
At that point, Bell said, he was aware of the tactics being used by the Chevrolet cars.
“I could very clearly see the race manipulation and race fixing that was going on,” he said.
“It’s tough. I mean, this has been one of the hardest things that I’ve had to go through as a race car driver. I believe ‘cheated’ is the right word. We go through sessions at the beginning of the year to make sure that we don’t do this. That, unfortunately, is what happened and I was on the losing side of it.”
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Bell admitted his predicament makes for some mixed emotions ahead of Sunday’s race. His job is to win races – but in this case, victory will be the ultimate reminder of what should have been.
“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “No matter how it goes, you want to do well and we’re going to put our best foot forward to do well. But if we do well and have a successful weekend, then it’s going to be even more of a bummer and a disappointment. It’s a very perplexing feeling going into this weekend, and one that I hope that I never have again.”
One thing that Bell takes solace in: his body of work across the season, which opened with a third place at the Daytona 500 and yielded three victories going into Phoenix.
“This 2024 season has been the best in my career across all forms of the statistics – more top 10s, more top fives, more laps led,” he said. “That’s something that we tried to emphasize going into 2024, coming off our 2022, 2023 (season), being in the championship race but feeling like we haven’t performed at our highest. Even leaving 2024, I feel like it’s more of the same, where we left a lot on the table. I’m happy and I’m pleased that I have set career highs for myself, and I am hopeful and optimistic that I can keep breaking those barriers and winning more races, leading more laps, winning more stages, more top 10s, more top fives.”
Before he can do that, he needs to draw a line under the disappointment of how his 2024 ended, and the fact that, from his view, his destiny was taken out of his own hands. The best medicine so far has been putting on the helmet.
“Whenever I get in the car, I have been able to turn off everything that’s going on around me and focus on the task at hand,” he said. “Frankly, I look forward to that. Practice was fun. I got to get into my zone and drive a race car. It’s all of the stuff outside of the car, where you’re not in race car driver mode, that’s not fun and is heartbreak and disappointment. I look forward to putting my helmet on and getting out of the world; getting into my race car.”
Christopher Bell posts a spicy message about Chevrolet after missing the Championship 4 at Martinsville Speedway in 2024.
[autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] will not race for a NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway after being issued a “safety violation” at Martinsville Speedway. Bell passed Bubba Wallace in the final corners and hit the wall, riding it to the finish line. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver doesn’t seem thrilled about why he was put in that position.
Bell went to X and posted, “Just a couple guys missing a bow tie,” with a picture of him and owner Joe Gibbs. The post comes as Chevrolet’s race manipulation involving William Byron has become a topic of conversation. Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain formed a wall behind Byron and blocked the Ford of Brad Keselowski from making a move.
Dillon’s radio communications show proof of “knowing the deal” regarding Byron at Martinsville. If Chevrolet had let the race play out naturally, Bell would be in the Championship 4 and wouldn’t have been in a position to ride the wall. It will be interesting to see what NASCAR does about Chevrolet and Toyota’s race manipulation leading into the season finale at Phoenix.
NASCAR addresses the decision to eliminate Christopher Bell from the Championship 4 after his move at Martinsville Speedway in 2024.
[autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] needed one point to make the Championship 4, and he gave it his all on the final lap at Martinsville Speedway. Bell drove the No. 20 car hard into Turn 3 and passed Bubba Wallace; however, he hit the wall and then drove it to the finish line. NASCAR reviewed the incident for over 20 minutes and deemed that Bell would be eliminated after a “safety violation.”
Following the event, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer talked about the sport’s decision to knock Bell out of the Championship 4 with a safety violation after riding the wall.
“[Christopher Bell] clearly got up against the fence there in [Turns 3 and 4] and rode the fans all the way off four there,” Sawyer said. “Strictly it’s to protect our drivers as well as our fans. So, yeah, it was pretty straightforward.”
Should Christopher Bell race for the NASCAR Championship?
“I’m not going to speculate on what Christopher did or said what he meant to do, That wouldn’t be fair to try to make that type of decision based off that. We looked at the data. We looked at video. We’ve been very clear, based off our conversations with our industry, based off that move two years ago, that that would not be tolerated.”
Bell and Joe Gibbs Racing can’t appeal the decision, but it remains in the middle of controversy as the No. 20 car wouldn’t have been in that position if Chevrolet hadn’t held back against William Byron in the closing laps. The same can be said about Wallace backing up to Bell, and it will be interesting to see what NASCAR does about the race manipulation this week.
NASCAR focused its review of the finish from Martinsville Speedway on Christopher Bell to determine who would be in the Championship 4 for the Cup Series title. Bell was penalized for riding the wall on the final lap in the final corners, which …
NASCAR focused its review of the finish from Martinsville Speedway on Christopher Bell to determine who would be in the Championship 4 for the Cup Series title.
Bell was penalized for riding the wall on the final lap in the final corners, which eliminated him from the position. The final transfer spot went to William Byron.
In the initial finish, Bell advanced via a tiebreaker on Byron, but it took 27 minutes for NASCAR to review the video and confirm the finish and who advanced.
“When you look at it today, he clearly got up against the fence in [Turns] 3 and 4 and rode the fence all the way off [Turn] 4 there,” NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said. “That’s strictly to protect our drivers and our fans. That one is pretty straightforward.”
The penalty was a safety violation. The wall ride falls under the safety violation in the NASCAR Rule Book, which was made clear in 2022 after Ross Chastain pulled off the video game move to advance in the postseason. Chastain went wide open into Turn 3 and rode the wall to the finish.
Joe Gibbs Racing executives went to the NASCAR hauler about the decision. It was approximately a 15-minute conversation in which they were told an in-race violation is not appealable.
Bell denied riding the wall intentionally. He said he made a mistake getting into Turn 3 and the car slid into the wall. However, Bell acknowledged that he knew he needed the positions and tried to get to the finish line as quickly as possible.
“I made a mistake and I slid into the wall,” Bell said. “Unfortunately, they ruled that as a safety violation. I don’t know what to say. I didn’t advance my position into the wall. I lost time on the racetrack, but it’s not meant to be.
“It’s fine.”
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The only position Bell could have taken was from Toyota teammate Bubba Wallace. Bell was in the process of passing Wallace going into Turn 3 before his car slid into the wall.
“I’m not going to speculate on what Christopher did or what he meant to do,” Sawyer said. “That wouldn’t be fair to try to make that type of decision based off that. We looked at the data and the video, and we’ve been very clear based off our conversations with our industry and based off that move two years ago, that it won’t be tolerated.”
However, NASCAR does have more to review from Sunday. Bell’s move was the immediate issue that NASCAR addressed.
Wallace slowed on the backstretch on the final lap before Bell caught him for the position. He denied that it was to help his manufacturer teammate and said something happened to his car and he was trying not to cause a caution.
Chevrolet also had three drivers behind Byron who did not attempt to pass him. It’s one point per position, and Byron could not afford to lose any as he was only one point ahead of Bell as the race wound down.
The No. 3 in-car radio of Austin Dillon showed their team was aware of Byron’s situation and discussed it with less than 25 laps to go. Dillon was later told if he were to pass Byron, it would move the Hendrick Motorsports driver outside the playoffs.
Dillon wound up behind Byron over the final laps. Ross Chastain, another Chevrolet driver, was to Dillon’s outside. Carson Hocevar ran behind the side-by-side Dillon and Chastain.
“Does the [No.] 1 crew chief know the deal?” one voice on Dillon’s radio asks.
“Yeah, he should,” another voice says.
All of those chains of events will be looked into this week by NASCAR.
“We’ll take all the data, video, we’ll listen to in-car audio and video,” Sawyer said. “We’ll do all that, as we would any event.”
If you watched the Netflix docuseries “NASCAR: Full Speed” that dropped at the start of the year, Christopher Bell provided one of the most quotable moments. The five-episode series was an in-depth look at the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship …
If you watched the Netflix docuseries “NASCAR: Full Speed” that dropped at the start of the year, Christopher Bell provided one of the most quotable moments.
The five-episode series was an in-depth look at the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series championship battle. For those working on the project, it made sense to try and plan around drivers that would be worth becoming invested in as ones likely to make a championship run.
Bell, straight-faced and looking at the camera when informed of that approach, said, “I wasn’t in that plan, was I?”
No, admittedly, he wasn’t. But the Joe Gibbs Racing driver ended up making a second straight run to the Championship 4 in the finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Hopefully, NASCAR, Netflix, and viewers are better prepared this year because Bell is on his way once again. Bell has smoothly advanced through the first two rounds of the postseason without much attention. Sunday, he started the Round of 8 from the pole and led 155 of 267 laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway before finishing a disappointed second.
“It does (feel that way) a little bit but this time for good because we’ve just kind of been safe every (time),” Bell said before the round started about flying under the radar. “Going into Bristol, I don’t think we were locked in but we locked in rather quickly, had a lot of points in the bank. And then the same thing here in the Round of 12.
“So, we haven’t won, which has been a bummer, but we’ve done a really good job accumulating points and we’ve been above the cutline and on the safe side of things. So, I’m happy with that.”
Bell continues to quietly put up the loudest numbers. Ben Earp/Motorsport Images
Bell has quietly been the best driver in the postseason even without winning. The worst Bell has finished in seven postseason races is 14th at Watkins Glen. He’s been seventh or better in the other six races, which equates to an average finish of 5.71.
The driver who comes closest to Bell statistically is William Byron. The Hendrick Motorsports ace has five top-10 finishes in seven races and an average finish of 10.3.
“He’s scored a lot of points and has been really consistent,” Byron said of Bell. “It kind of reminds me of our playoff run last year where he has a sub-six average finish and lots of points scored. That’s kind of right where we were last year; we had a really consistent playoff stretch.
“He’s a great competitor, and as much as I’m looking at that, I’m not really paying attention to anybody but our team.”
Bell and Byron were two of the drivers who made up the Championship 4 last season. The third driver of that group was Byron’s teammate, Kyle Larson.
The 2021 Cup Series champion smiled and quickly said, “always” about Bell being overlooked. And Larson is just as guilty at times.
“I got asked the question last week, ‘Who’s the guy?’ or whatever, and I mentioned four or five people without mentioning Christopher,” Larson said. “He’s so good and just sneaky — very sneaky. Quiet good. That’s his personality, too. He’s just quiet and he’s not out talking about how good he’s doing. He’s just doing it.
“Him and his team are super strong and they’ve been doing a great job the last three years or whatever it’s been. I’ve raced with Christopher for so long that I know how good he is, and he is just a quiet, smooth person. A smooth racer, and for whatever reason, he’s flown under the radar his whole NASCAR career, I feel like.”
Bell and Byron might be flying under some playoff radars, but they’re certainly on each others’. John Harrelson/Motorsport Images
The ending is still to be written, but Bell has already put together a drama-filled season that would make a great movie. Or episode on the second season of the Netflix docuseries.
Bell won the third race of the season at Phoenix Raceway and then disappeared during the summer. By the All-Star Race break, Bell was 15th in the standings and knew his chance at the regular season championship were over. The team was searching for performance answers and Bell was as low as could be at the time.
A week after that was documented, Bell won two stages in the Coca-Cola 600 and the race. It started a stretch of five straight top-10 finishes, which included another victory at New Hampshire.
Incredibly, Bell finished the regular season inside the top five in points and was seeded second in the postseason. The 32 bonus points he earned came from three wins and 10 stage wins — eight of which he claimed from the Coke 600 through the end of the regular season.
“They kind of went through a rough patch during the course of the summer,” said Denny Hamlin, Bell’s teammate. “But they’d always have really good elite speed. A lot of the metric that I look at show that he’s one of the fastest when it comes to setting fast lap times and driver ratings. Things like that. Yeah, probably laying in the weeds is a good way to kind of summarize that [No.] 20 team and Christopher.
“But I think some of it also is his personality, right? He’s not outspoken that much. He’s pretty soft-spoken. Typically, people like that always fly under the radar. Matt Kenseth — I consider them very, very similar when I think about who Christopher is and I’ve worked with both of them. I feel like there’s a lot of Matt Kenseth in Christopher — both with their personalities and their talent level.”
It’s always been execution over attention for Bell, and that’s not to say he’s received no attention at all. But as the postseason has unfolded, the storylines have centered around many of the other contenders while Bell is steamrolling toward the title round.
“I feel like my team does an amazing job of stepping up to the plate whenever it matters the most,” Bell said. “I go back to April. April was an absolutely terrible month for us. We’ve been doing really good here the last couple of weeks.
“We need to take another step for sure if we want to be a Round of 4 contender. But I feel confident when we get to the Round of 8, we can do that.”
Listen to Christopher Bell’s fiery comment on the radio after his heartbreaking loss at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2024.
[autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] won the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and clearly had the best car. Bell won Stage 2 and would’ve won Stage 1 without a late caution. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was also leading in the Final Stage; however, a spin by Ty Gibbs came at a bad time with the fuel window shorter than the amount of laps remaining.
In the final green-flag run, Bell and all of the leaders came down pit road; however, Joey Logano stayed out and tried to do the unthinkable. Well, Logano found a way as Bell charged from 20-plus seconds back to within one second on the final lap. With one more lap, Bell would’ve blown by Logano to clinch a spot in the Championship 4.
Below, you can listen to Bell’s radio in the moment he came up short of winning at Las Vegas. The driver of the No. 20 car was very upset, and couldn’t believe he was one lap away from winning.
Christopher Bell had the losing hand at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series playoff race. Bell, just like a year ago, was running down the race leader at the end of Sunday’s race but came up short. He dominated the …
Christopher Bell had the losing hand at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the second consecutive NASCAR Cup Series playoff race.
Bell, just like a year ago, was running down the race leader at the end of Sunday’s race but came up short. He dominated the afternoon for 155 laps led and a stage win, but Joey Logano and the No. 22 team rolled the dice and won at Bell’s expense. Logano jumped the field by his team playing the fuel mileage game.
“I definitely feel like I executed my race, our team executed our race, and it just wasn’t meant to be today,” Bell said. “That’s a dagger. That’s more of a dagger than last year.”
There wasn’t much more Bell could ask for over the final stint. The final caution of the South Point 400 flew with 75 laps to go and Bell kept the race lead on and off pit road, but he wound up being one of a handful of drivers who was brought to pit before the end of the race to ensure making it on fuel.
Bell pitted from the race lead with 38 laps to go. Logano took the lead with five laps to go; Bell had reached third place by then. The gap was 2.6s, and it was under a second at the white flag.
“They got on me with probably 15 laps to go and said we can’t afford to have any loss of time and I didn’t feel I gave up any chunks of time,” Bell said. “I felt like all the lapped traffic was pretty respectful and I was able to get through pretty good.”
There was no accounting for Logano having a teammate behind him. Ryan Blaney, the reigning series champion who was multiple laps down from an incident earlier in the day, helped Logano get to the race lead and then trailed his teammate to the finish. At that point, it didn’t matter how much time was left or how fast Bell was coming when he felt Blaney was playing defense.
“It was going to take the right move to get by him, but we had, what was it, 30, almost 40 lap newer tires than him and clearly a lot more pace than what he had at that time,” Bell said. “I just didn’t get there in 267 laps, though.”
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Blaney, however, saw things differently. He resented any suggestion he was blocking or doing anything to help Logano’s effort.
“[Bell] didn’t get to me until the last corner,” Blaney said. “I don’t know what [makes] you think I’m blocking him. I’m running the top. I’m not taking anyone’s air away. He should have maybe gotten to the [No.] 22 quicker; he would have been able to pass me pretty easy. But he was half a lap too late.”
Bell conceded it was fair game and credited Blaney with doing as much. Logano’s win and Blaney’s disappointing day not only put them on opposite ends of the cutline but created a big gap in points for the remaining seven drivers.
However, it still left Bell feeling disappointed, and also having a bit of deja vu.
“I lost an Xfinity race here — I think it was 2019 — in literally the exact same way where the yellow flag comes out on the outside of the window, I’m leading the race and have to make a pit stop, and someone in the back stretches,” Bell said. “I’ve seen it before, and I couldn’t believe it. When we went green, Adam [Stevens] told me that we were four or five [laps] short, and nobody topped off, so I didn’t think there was a chance anyone could make it at that point. Then he keyed up and said a couple of them are trying to stretch it, and I’m like, well, surely, they’re going to run out, right?
“They did not run out.”
Bell sits the highest above the cutline of the drivers without a victory. He is 42 points to the good going into the second race in the round.
“It’s a positive, but nothing is guaranteed in this sport,” Bell said. “We watched Justin Allgaier have a 40-something point lead going into Bristol and lose the regular season championship. Nothing is guaranteed except a win. A win is guaranteed.
Christopher Bell made the first move of NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers to begin the Round of 8 by claiming the pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Bell (P) went to the top of the board in the final round of qualifying at 185.344mph (29.135s). It’s …
Christopher Bell made the first move of NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers to begin the Round of 8 by claiming the pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Bell (P) went to the top of the board in the final round of qualifying at 185.344mph (29.135s). It’s his third pole of the season and at Las Vegas.
“A lot of execution,” Bell said of going from the pole to the win Sunday afternoon. “Las Vegas, and all of these Cup races, are just really long races and there is a lot of things that go on between the green flag and the checkered flag that dictates the outcome of the race. I’ve sat in this position many times now, and I’ve yet to win the race on Sunday starting from that first position. We’ve come close several times, and this is a great race track for me.
“I’m optimistic about it and I felt really good in practice. Sometimes that means more than you see in qualifying. I think we have the car to do it, and hopefully I’m up for the job, our team executes well, and we are able to put it all together.”
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Tyler Reddick (P) qualified second at 185.251mph; Alex Bowman, third at 184.963mph; Denny Hamlin (P), fourth at 185.052mph and Kyle Larson (P), fifth at 184.900mph.
Larson is the defending race winner of the South Point 400. He also won at Las Vegas in the spring.
Carson Hocevar ran sixth at 184.590mph; Ross Chastain, seventh at 184.811mph; Ty Gibbs, eighth at 184.458mph; William Byron (P), ninth at 184.666mph and Joey Logano (P) completed the top 10 at 184.382mph.
Chase Elliott (P) qualified 18th at 183.792mph. He was the slowest playoff driver who made a qualifying lap.
Reigning series champion Ryan Blaney (P) will start last. Blaney did not make a qualifying run after a crash in practice – from a punctured tire – had his team working on preparing the backup car.
Check out the NASCAR Cup Series starting lineup for the 2024 South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend!
Las Vegas Motor Speedway is next for the NASCAR Cup Series, and Joe Gibbs Racing will lead the field to the green flag. [autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] won the pole for the 2024 South Point 400 at Las Vegas this weekend. Tyler Reddick will join Bell on the front row for Sunday afternoon’s event. It is Bell’s third pole position of the 2024 NASCAR season.
Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin will follow the two drivers on the second row. Most notably, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Chase Briscoe, Jimmie Johnson, and Ryan Blaney all qualified 20th or worse for Sunday’s event. This occurred as Blaney crashed in the opening minutes of Group B’s practice session.
The full starting lineup is available below.
NASCAR starting lineup, 2024 South Point 400 at Las Vegas:
