Tag: Christopher Bell

Bell was good, but not good enough at Martinsville

Christopher Bell saw improvement in his performance at Martinsville Speedway with Sunday’s second-place run, but it wasn’t good enough to challenge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin. “I don’t know what he was doing early in the run, if he was …

Christopher Bell saw improvement in his performance at Martinsville Speedway with Sunday’s second-place run, but it wasn’t good enough to challenge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin.

“I don’t know what he was doing early in the run, if he was struggling with something or if he was just taking care of the tires,” Bell said. “I could keep pace with him, and then I pressured him for a little bit, and then I died. I died probably 20 or 30 (laps) to go, maybe even longer than that, and was in hang-on mode.”

Bell led 20 laps early in the afternoon, but Hamlin controlled much of the race, including the entire final stage. But there were three cautions in the final 105 laps that gave Bell and the field a chance to take shots at Hamlin.

On two of the final three restarts, Bell chose the inside lane and restarted behind Hamlin. On the final restart, which came with 75 laps to go, Bell chose the outside lane and went to Hamlin’s right side. The No. 20 was able to lead the lap as the two ran each other side-by-side for multiple laps before Hamlin eventually prevailed and drove away.

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“But it was a great weekend,” Bell said. “A great weekend for our team. This DeWalt Camry was obviously really good on Saturday and that helped a lot of our success today. The pit crew did a great job when it mattered, showed up and gained us spots on pit road. We’ve got some really good notes and scored some good points.

“I remember coming here in the fall last year talking about how many points I needed, and we just haven’t scored points at Martinsville, so it was nice to do that here today.”

Bell started from the pole in Sunday’s race.

Even if he was able to stay with Hamlin or overtake him early in the final run, he doesn’t believe it would have been enough to take the victory. Hamlin’s margin of victory on Bell at the finish was 4.6s.

“He beat me by almost 5s, so even if I had cleared him, I don’t think that I would have stayed in front of him for the whole run,” Bell said. “He drove away pretty good, and I was hanging on there at the end. It’s a great day for our company, a great day for Toyota, and definitely the best we’ve been at Martinsville in a long time, and I still feel there’s room to improve. I’m really happy about that.”

The effort was the first top-five finish for Bell at Martinsville Speedway since his fall 2022 win at the facility. It was also his first top-five finish since winning at Phoenix Raceway.

“It feels good — second (place) is a finish that you feel a lot better about the next day,” Bell said. “I’m happy for Denny and happy Joe Gibbs Racing got a win, but he whipped my butt there that last run. We need to get a little bit better.”

Bell surprises himself with Cup Series pole at Martinsville

Christopher Bell will lead the field to the green flag Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. Bell won the pole for the Cook Out 400 with a lap of 96.034mph (19.718s). It’s his first pole on the Virginia short track and his first of the season. …

Christopher Bell will lead the field to the green flag Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.

Bell won the pole for the Cook Out 400 with a lap of 96.034mph (19.718s). It’s his first pole on the Virginia short track and his first of the season. Furthermore, it’s the first time in 11 starts at Martinsville that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will start inside the top five.

“I was kind of down in the dumps after practice, but that was definitely the best qualifying session I’ve ever felt out of my car here at Martinsville,” Bell told Prime. “It was just easy … I’ve been really good at qualifying in the 20s, and I went out there and the car had so much grip. It cut a really good lap. I’m really proud of everyone on this [No.] 20 team; they’ve been working hard to improve our Martinsville package.

“We’ll see what happens tomorrow, but regardless, starting up front is going to be a huge help.”

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Chase Elliott will join Bell on the front row with a lap of 95.951mph.

Alex Bowman wound up third at 95.937mph, Kyle Larson fourth at 95.854mph and Denny Hamlin completed the top five at 95.840mph.

Chris Buescher qualified sixth at 95.840mph, Joey Logano seventh at 95.820mph, Bubba Wallace eighth at 95.801mph, Tyler Reddick ninth at 95.733mph and William Byron 10th at 95.723mph.

Byron is the defending winner at Martinsville. Hendrick Motorsports finished 1-2-3 in this event last year.

Chase Briscoe qualified 11th, Kyle Busch 12th, Ty Gibbs 13th, Josh Berry 14th, Michael McDowell 15th, Ross Chastain 17th, Austin Cindric 20th and Ryan Preece 21st.

Brad Keselowski ended his lap mired in 27th. Ryan Blaney, who has won the last two fall races at Martinsville, qualified 32nd.

NEXT: The Cook Out 400 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday.

JGR’s planning saved Bell from a loose wheel catastrophe in Vegas

Adam Stevens sounded nonchalant about the call that kept his driver, Christopher Bell, from losing a wheel Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “Oh,” he said. “That’s something we’ve talked about.” That something was having Bell stop in another pit …

Adam Stevens sounded nonchalant about the call that kept his driver, Christopher Bell, from losing a wheel Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Oh,” he said. “That’s something we’ve talked about.”

That something was having Bell stop in another pit box and get the wheel tightened. Stevens made the heads-up call under a lap 108 caution. The No. 20 team finished their pit stop and Bell was leaving pit road when Stevens told him to stop in someone’s box. Bell’s spotter, Stevie Reeves, also got on the radio and told Bell to stop in someone’s box.

As Bell worked his way left toward a pit box, Stevens was back on the radio about tightening the left-side wheels. It turned out that Bell was looking for a teammate’s pit box and got to Chase Briscoe’s. The No. 19 team tightened the left front wheel on Bells’s car, and Bell returned to the race.

“We’re allowed to do that,” Stevens said. “And obviously, being pitted as far back [as we were] is something that we’ve talked about before, so it happened.”

It was a move rarely, if ever, seen before in Cup Series competition and took many by surprise. It was also impressive how quick thinking it was.

“Yep,” Stevens said. “Hopefully, we don’t have to do that too many times.”

The move is allowed since it is a safety issue. NASCAR would hope a potential wheel issue is addressed on pit road, if possible, rather than have the wheel come detached on the racetrack.

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However, there was still a penalty involved. Bell lost his track position with the extended time on pit road and was called for pitting outside his pit box because another team serviced his car.

Bell’s day was finished either way. He was running second at the time of the caution when the incident occurred, and the lost track position hindered his chances for the remainder of the afternoon.

The team was chasing its fourth consecutive victory but finished 12th after Bell had come from the rear of the field at the start after the throttle body in his car was changed before the race.

“It was tough,” Stevens said. “Starting in the back is never fun, but man, we got all the way up there to P2. You can’t go to the back once you start in the back and have much of a better finish than what we had, to be completely honest with you, without some high-level circumstance.

“We had some good fortune there early in the race when that caution came in the green flag cycle and got us a chunk of track position, and once we restarted in the top 10, he drove right up there and was running the [No.] 5 down. We felt and we thought it was going to be a good day. At least (we’d) be in contention. Once we had that loose wheel, it was going to take something — a miracle — for us to be racing for the win at that point.”

Competitors respect Bell’s streak as they work to end it

Kyle Larson knows how good it is to be Christopher Bell. Until last weekend at Phoenix Raceway, when Bell prevailed again at the finish, Larson had been the most recent driver to win three consecutive NASCAR Cup Series races. On his way to a 10-win …

Kyle Larson knows how good it is to be Christopher Bell.

Until last weekend at Phoenix Raceway, when Bell prevailed again at the finish, Larson had been the most recent driver to win three consecutive NASCAR Cup Series races. On his way to a 10-win season and the championship, Larson won three consecutive races twice in 2021. The first stretch was the Charlotte, Sonoma, and Nashville races. The second stretch was in the postseason with the Charlotte Roval, Texas, and Kansas.

Bell enters Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on a three-race winning streak. He and his team have won at Atlanta, Circuit of The Americas, and Phoenix. In taking the torch from Larson, Bell became the first driver to win three consecutive races in the Next Gen era.

“I had a great season in 2021 and was able to win three points-paying races in a row twice that year [and] four in a row once with the All-Star Race in there,” Larson said. “Having lived through it, I can respect it a lot more, and it doesn’t bother me … somebody else having success like that.”

But then Larson offered a smile and continued by saying, “If he wins this weekend, maybe it’s like, ‘Alright, this is getting annoying.’ But as a competitor and a fan, I think it’s really neat because this sport is so tough, especially in the Next Gen era. I respect it more than anything currently, but if it keeps going on too long, it’ll get annoying.”

Las Vegas has thus far eluded Bell in his Cup Series career. He’s been one of the most dominant drivers at the track, particularly in the Next Gen era, which began in 2022, with three poles and 248 laps led.

It wasn’t hard to find a fellow competitor who admitted respect is where they land on seeing what Bell and his Joe Gibbs Racing team have accomplished, not only because winning at the Cup Series level is never easy, but doing it in a car that was taunted for its parity when first introduced. The combination of talented teams and the field having the same parts and pieces makes Cup Series racing the closest it has perhaps ever been.

When asked about the balance between having respect toward his fellow competitor for the accomplishment and the winning streak being annoying and needing to be stopped, Ryan Blaney laughed. Sunday, Blaney would have to do that from the rear of the field after a blown tire damaged his primary car and kept him from making a qualifying lap.

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“It’s both,” Blaney said. “Christopher and that whole team have been doing a great job for the last three weeks, for sure, and, hey, he’s got a great chance to do it again this weekend. They run great here, so he’ll be one to beat. You respect that level of performance by your competitors, but at the same time, it’s like you said — we’ve got to stop this. We’ve got to get these guys off their high horse.

“But you can’t overlook how hard that is to do, and they’ve executed really well the last three weeks and put themselves in a spot to win and in kind of dominating fashion at Phoenix. It was pretty much the same way at COTA. It’s tough to beat that. They’re a good group, and they’ve shown that through the years, so yeah, it’s a little bit of both.”

Tyler Reddick is a Toyota teammate of Bell’s through the 23XI Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing alliance. Reddick feels he has a good understanding of how Bell won the last three races, which is where the respect he has for Bell’s performance comes from.

“It’s difficult to do,” Reddick said. “It’s just a hard task to be that good.”

The driver Bell beat for his third win at Phoenix was teammate Denny Hamlin. Bell drove into Turn 3 underneath Hamlin and moved them both up the track, which put Hamlin at a disadvantage on the high side. For Hamlin, it pushed his winless streak to 29 races.

Since 2006, Hamlin has won 54 races in the Cup Series, and twice in his career he’s won back-to-back races. The first was during the 2010 season at Pocono and Michigan. Two years later, in 2012, he did it again with wins at Bristol and Kansas. But that is as far as a winning streak has ever gone for him.

“I’ve got to respect how hard it is,” Hamlin said of Bell’s three-race winning streak. “I’ve never done it, and I can’t recall if I was close in the third race that I was contending for. It’s really, really hard, especially under all circumstances, but when you’ve got things going your way and you’re on top of your game, it seems like the basket is 10 feet wide right now for them.”

The last time a driver won four consecutive races in the Cup Series was 2007. Jimmie Johnson accomplished the feat during the postseason with wins at Martinsville, Atlanta, Texas, and Phoenix.

“I’m just excited about it,” Bell said of the opportunity. “One thing is for sure — nothing that has happened the last three weeks means anything for this week. Everything is still ahead of me and nothing is set, and we have to go out there and perform as soon as the green flag drops in practice. We have to qualify well, and we have to execute the race.

“So I’m optimistic about how we are going to perform, because this has been a strong track for us in the past, but I’m just trying very hard to not get ahead of myself and understand that it’s a new week, it’s another race and everybody is going to be bringing their best stuff and trying to beat me. I’m optimistic about how we are going to perform, but I understand that it’s a tall task.”

Bell roars to third consecutive Cup Series win at Phoenix

Christopher Bell won again Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series. He and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team made it three straight Cup Series victories by beating out teammate Denny Hamlin in a side-by-side battle to the finish. Hamlin was leading at the …

Christopher Bell won again Sunday in the NASCAR Cup Series.

He and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team made it three straight Cup Series victories by beating out teammate Denny Hamlin in a side-by-side battle to the finish. Hamlin was leading at the white flag, but the two drivers found themselves side-by-side off Turn 2, then drag raced toward the checkered flag. Bell powered around the bottom as Hamlin got too far wide in Turn 4.

Bell led Hamlin and Kyle Larson, who nearly joined the fight in the final corner, to the finish of the Shriners Children’s 500. It is the second consecutive win for Bell in the spring event at Phoenix and third straight after triumphs at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Circuit of The Americas.

Bell is the only repeat winner thus far in 2025. He is the first driver in the Next Gen era to win three consecutive races and the first in the series since Kyle Larson did so in 2021.

“Oh my gosh, man,” Bell told Fox Sports on the frontstretch. “Whenever you’re sitting there dreaming it up, that’s about as ugly as it gets. You put the red tires on, and you’re like, ‘Alright, what I don’t want to happen is go like 20 or 30 laps and get a yellow,’ and that happened. Then we went 10 more laps and had another yellow, and it was just all about who could get clear on the restart.

“Neither of us could, and we were racing really, really hard there coming to the line. JGR ran 1-2, how about that?”

It was a dominant day for Bell, who led a race-high 106 of 312 laps. He also won the second stage.

Hamlin finished second after finally getting track position late in the day. He finished eighth in the first stage and sixth in the second stage.

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“A great job by the Sport Clips team,” Hamlin said. “It got better and better as it went. The pit crew did a phenomenal job that kept us in the game when we had a bad stop in the middle. They made up for it at the end. It was the first time we were able to get some clean air all day, and obviously our car was really fast.

“I really wanted it to stay green there because I thought the long run was really where we were going to be able to excel, especially on these tires. But we got a good restart. [Larson] gave me a great push on the frontstretch on the restart and down the backstretch, so I had a position on (Bell), but I knew he was going to ship in there and if he had to use me, he could. We ran out of racetrack there, but a great finish and a great job by the whole Joe Gibbs team to give us some fast cars.”

It came down to a two-lap run to the finish. The final caution of the afternoon happened with eight laps to go when Ty Gibbs had a mechanical issue and hit the wall in Turn 3.

Bell and Hamlin restarted on the front row. Josh Berry and Larson restarted on the second row.

Bell, Hamlin and Larson were the top three finishers, with Berry finishing fourth and Chris Buescher finishing fifth. A fourth-place finish for Berry is the best finish for Wood Brothers Racing in its history at Phoenix Raceway.

William Byron, who won the first stage, finished sixth, Alex Bowman finished seventh, Kyle Busch finished eighth and Zane Smith finished ninth. Chase Elliott completed the top 10.

Joey Logano finished 13th. Logano was strong early in the day but was penalized for going below the yellow line on a lap 15 restart. The No. 22 team used the option tire, the softer compound, to regain track position in the second stage but later found themselves at a deficit when using the second set of option tires to start the third stage and most of the field saved their final set until late in the stage.

Ryan Blaney finished 28th after blowing an engine. Katherine Legge finished 30th in her Cup Series debut after an early spin on her own and then spinning again after contact with Josh Berry. The second incident also collected Daniel Suarez and ended her day.

A seven-car crash midway through the second stage ended the days of Shane van Gisbergen, Cole Custer, Brad Keselowski, Justin Haley, Chase Briscoe, Carson Hocevar, and Riley Herbst. It was one of 10 caution flags on Sunday afternoon.

There were 17 lead changes among six drivers.

Chase Briscoe reveals Christopher Bell’s plans to run 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals

Chase Briscoe reveals Christopher Bell’s plans to run the 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals. Check out Briscoe’s post on Bell’s Chili Bowl entry!

[autotag]Chase Briscoe[/autotag] and [autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] will be teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing starting in 2025, and the two drivers have a long history together. Briscoe and Bell have been friends for over a decade. In June 2024, Bell accidentally revealed that Briscoe would join Joe Gibbs Racing in a press conference, and the former Stewart-Haas Racing driver finally got his “revenge.””

On Tuesday morning, Briscoe revealed on X that Bell will return to the Chili Bowl Nationals in January 2025. It was a full circle moment after the driver of the No. 20 car spoiled his announcement.

“Guess I’ll finally get [Christopher Bell] back for this, pumped to see @CBellRacing back at the Chili Bowl Nationals,” Briscoe said.”

Bell hasn’t competed in the Chili Bowl Nationals over the last two years after Joe Gibbs Racing enforced strict dirt racing restrictions. Recently, the NASCAR team reversed course and will allow dirt racing in select events. Bell joins Briscoe, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. as NASCAR drivers expected to compete in the 2025 Chili Bowl Nationals.

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Christopher Bell’s new DeWalt paint scheme for 2025 NASCAR season revealed

Christopher Bell’s new DeWalt paint scheme for the 2025 NASCAR Cup season has been revealed. Check out Bell’s new look on the No. 20 car!

[autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag]’s first paint scheme for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season has been revealed. On Thursday morning, Joe Gibbs Racing revealed Bell’s new DeWalt paint scheme for 2025. Compared to 2024, the No. 20 DeWalt Toyota will have white numbers instead of chrome numbers with less black on the side of the entry.

Overall, it seems to be a positive change for Bell, as the No. 20 DeWalt car has contained chrome numbers over the last two seasons. The white numbers are a nice refresh, and with less black on the sides of the car, the yellow base pops out more than in the past. It gives the DeWalt vehicle more of a yellow identity, which is a good idea.

DeWalt hopes that Bell will continue his rise in the Cup Series. In 2024, Bell was arguably NASCAR’s best driver and would’ve won the Cup Series championship in several former formats. Bell has been a staple in the Cup Series, and with DeWalt by his side, he should continue to develop as he pursues his first championship at NASCAR’s top level.

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Christopher Bell interested in running the Indianapolis 500, ‘The Double’

Christopher Bell says he is interested in running the Indianapolis 500, which would also mean an attempt at “The Double.”

[autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] is still searching for his first NASCAR Cup Series title, but the 2024 racing season was promising. Bell was arguably NASCAR’s fastest driver as he won the 2024 Coca-Cola 600 and two other races. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver felt cheated out of a Championship 4 berth after the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway, which will only add intrigue to his story moving forward

However, could another piece of NASCAR history be a part of Bell’s future? According to Bell through Sportsnaut’s Matt Weaver, he would be interested in running the Indianapolis 500 under the right circumstances.

“Yeah, for sure,” Bell said. “If Toyota was interested in [the Indianapolis 500], I would be raising my hand to do it.  They haven’t been (just) a huge part of my career, they have been my career. They have literally taken me from childhood semi-professional or amateur racing all the way to the [NASCAR Cup Series], so I would love that. I would love if they would do it, and I’d be the first one to raise my hand to do it.”

Recently, Joe Gibbs Racing lifted its dirt racing restrictions, allowing Bell to run in approved events in the future. For Bell’s hopes of the Indianapolis 500, Toyota would have to join the IndyCar Series, whether it’s a one-off race, part-time, or full-time. As of now, there are no imminent plans for Toyota, but Bell hopes that an attempt at the Indianapolis 500 is in his future.

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Christopher Bell reacts to Joe Gibbs lifting dirt racing restrictions in 2024

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.

Bell spoke to Gluck through The Athletic about Joe Gibbs Racing’s decision to allow its drivers to race in approved dirt racing events moving forward. Needless to say, the driver of the No. 20 Cup car is excited.

“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.

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‘I feel cheated out of a chance to compete for a championship’ – Bell

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.

 

“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.”