Tag: Christopher Bell

Bell falls short at Vegas hunting for Championship 4 advance

Christopher Bell felt he left all he had on the racetrack Sunday afternoon, but after coming up short to Kyle Larson by less than a car length, he couldn’t help but think of where the difference could have been found. “The one thing I look back at – …

Christopher Bell felt he left all he had on the racetrack Sunday afternoon, but after coming up short to Kyle Larson by less than a car length, he couldn’t help but think of where the difference could have been found.

“The one thing I look back at — I think it was the No. 15 and the No. 51 — they were running together and then they separated for one corner and I ended up following one of them on the bottom,” Bell said. “That probably cost me 0.1-0.2s, and I got beat by less than 0.1s. I wish I had that corner to go to a different lane and try to keep my momentum up better, but it’s easy to find a 0.1s over 30 laps.”

Bell charged to Larson’s back bumper over the final stint, erasing a 1.6s deficit. On the final lap, Bell stayed committed to the high lane until off the final corner and tried to get to the inside of Larson when the Hendrick Motorsports driver pulled up to block Bell’s charge.

“I knew I wasn’t going to make a move following him,” Bell said. “So I figured I was going to have to do something different, and that’s why I moved up.”

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The margin of victory between Larson and Bell was 0.082s. Larson clinched a spot competing for the championship in the season finale, and Bell leaves the weekend two points below the cutline with two races left in the round. Bell made the Championship 4 a season ago with a walk-off win in the elimination race at Martinsville Speedway.

“I don’t know what else I could have done,” 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 that 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.

“A great day, great day for sure to get the stage points [and] 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 led 61 laps Sunday after starting from the pole and earned 17 points through the stages. Homestead-Miami Speedway, where the series visits next, has been hot and cold for Bell with one top-10 finish in three starts and four laps led.

“I wish we would have won (today) that’s for sure,” he said.

Bell makes his mark with Round of 8 opener pole in Las Vegas

Christopher Bell will lead the field to the green flag Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to begin the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Bell earned the pole – his second at Las Vegas – with a lap of 186.335mph (28.980s) in his No. 20 …

Christopher Bell will lead the field to the green flag Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to begin the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Bell earned the pole – his second at Las Vegas – with a lap of 186.335mph (28.980s) in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He was the final driver to record a lap in qualifying and bumped Kyle Larson from the top spot.

Larson will start second with a lap of 186.271mph.

Sunday now marks the 499th national series pole for Toyota in NASCAR. A Toyota driver has started on the pole in six of the seven Cup Series playoff races (Aric Almirola, Ford, won the pole at Talladega Superspeedway). It’s also Bell’s 10th career pole in the Cup Series, with six coming this season.

William Byron will start third (186.181mph), Martin Truex Jr. fourth (185.759mph), Chris Buescher fifth (185.669mph), Kyle Busch sixth (185.612mph) and Bubba Wallace seventh (185.440mph).

Tyler Reddick wound up eighth (185.382mph) and Joey Logano, the defending race winner, will start ninth (185.268mph). Ross Chastain completed the top 10 (185.166mph).

Ryan Blaney will start 12th (185.204mph) and Denny Hamlin will start 15th (184.647mph). They were the only two playoff drivers to qualify outside the top 10.

Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez did not record a qualifying lap. Both drivers crashed during practice and are going to backup cars. They will start Sunday’s race at the rear of the field.

STARTING LINEUP

Christopher Bell’s outlook for the Round of 12 during 2023 NASCAR season

Evaluating Christopher Bell’s chances of advancing out of the Round of 12 as he pursues his first NASCAR Cup Series championship.

[autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] found himself in trouble after the first race of the Round of 16; however, Bell bounced back in a major way to easily clinch a spot in the Round of 12. The driver of the No. 20 car advanced with finishes of 23rd place at Darlington Raceway, eighth place at Kansas Speedway, and third place at Bristol Motor Speedway. All of this came after sweeping the pole positions in the Round of 16.

Bell’s playoff run will be determined by the lack of mistakes that are made by him and the No. 20 team as the speed is present for another Championship 4 appearance. So, how does the Round of 12 stack up for Bell as he tries to claim his first NASCAR Cup Series title? Let’s take a look at what tracks are coming up over the next three races.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver will take a five-point advantage to the playoff cut-line and head to Texas Motor Speedway, which is a track that has been kind to him in the past. Last year, Bell blew a tire which ended his day but showed brilliant speed in Stage 1. Texas should be a track that Bell runs well at so it is crucial to have a good start.

Moving onto Talladega, it hasn’t been too terrible for Bell but it is very unpredictable. In his last five starts, he has four top-20 finishes which also include two top-10 finishes. Bell has been fast at superspeedway tracks but finishing out the events and stages without mistakes has been his biggest issue to this point.

Finally, the Charlotte ROVAL should be another solid track for Bell. Last year, he walked off the Round of 12 with a victory at the venue while finishing in eighth place the previous season. Plus, Bell has been a top-5 points earner at road courses during the 2023 season. There is a very high ceiling for the Oklahoma native to close out the Round of 12.

As previously stated, Bell and the No. 20 team simply need to limit their mistakes. If this takes place, Bell has the speed to make the Round of 8 and go even further into the NASCAR playoffs. All three races were very unpredictable during the 2022 season and Bell needs to take advantage of his speed to turn that into stage points or a victory.

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Another week, another pole for Bell at Bristol

Christopher Bell is perfect in poles through the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after earning the top spot for the third consecutive week Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s pole-winning lap was …

Christopher Bell is perfect in poles through the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after earning the top spot for the third consecutive week Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s pole-winning lap was 126.997mph (15.109s) — his ninth career pole and first at Bristol.

Denny Hamlin made it an all JGR front row by qualifying second, clocking in at 126.930mph.

“It doesn’t get much closer to that,” Bell said of beating his teammate. “What was it, a 0.109s to a 0.117s at Bristol? That’s crazy tight. Really, really proud of this team. All the mechanics, all the engineers that work back at Joe Gibbs Racing and putting this No. 20 car together are just doing an amazing job, and we’ve been able to show that through qualifying really all year long.

“500 laps tomorrow is an extremely long time, and if I’ve learned anything, I’ve learned that qualifying means nothing for the race. But we’ve got a great pit stall again, great starting spot. Man, I’m excited. I love this racetrack; it’s one of my favorites.”

William Byron qualified third at 126.345mph, Michael McDowell fourth at 126.220mph and Martin Truex Jr. fifth at 126.154mph.

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Brad Keselowski qualified sixth at 125.963mph, Chase Elliott seventh at 125.914mph, Ty Gibbs eighth at 125.914mph, Bubba Wallace ninth at 125.897mph and Corey LaJoie completed the top 10 at 125.625mph.

All four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers qualified inside the top 10 and, with Wallace’s 23XI Camry in ninth, Toyota chalked up their best final round of qualifying since Charlotte 2022 when they claimed five of the top seven spots.

The rest of the playoff drivers in qualifying were Ryan Blaney 11th, Tyler Reddick 12th, Kyle Busch 15th, Chris Buescher 20th, Kevin Harvick 21st, Ross Chastain 23rd, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 25th, Joey Logano 28th, and Kyle Larson 36th.

Larson got loose during his qualifying lap and had to chase his Chevrolet through the corner.

Buescher is the defending race winner at Bristol.

There are 36 drivers entered in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. The race has been moved up by one hour to 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday due to the threat of inclement weather.

STARTING LINEUP

Bell scoots to second playoff pole in a row at Kansas

Christopher Bell is two-for-two in NASCAR Cup Series playoff race poles after topping the chart Saturday at Kansas Speedway. Bell was the final driver to qualify in the final round and put up a lap of 180.276mph (29.954s). The Joe Gibbs Racing …

Christopher Bell is two-for-two in NASCAR Cup Series playoff race poles after topping the chart Saturday at Kansas Speedway.

Bell was the final driver to qualify in the final round and put up a lap of 180.276mph (29.954s). The Joe Gibbs Racing driver also won the pole last weekend at Darlington Raceway. It’s Bell’s fourth pole of the season and the eighth of his career.

“I love this place,” Bell said. “That was a lot of fun; qualifying here is very intense and that’s certainly all we had. I felt really good in practice today; race trim is what it’s all about. Week after week we keep coming to the racetrack with cars that are capable of racing for wins and I’m ready to put it all together.

“Thankful to have all of our partners behind us. We got DeWalt on the car this weekend, and I’ve been running really good with them, so hopefully we can give them a good show again tomorrow.”

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Kyle Larson qualified second at 179.826mph, Martin Truex Jr. third at 178.767mph, Chase Elliott fourth at 178.648mph and Tyler Reddick fifth at 178.495mph.

Ross Chastain qualified sixth at 178.324mph, Michael McDowell seventh at 178.271mph and Austin Dillon eighth at 178.200mph. William Byron qualified ninth at 177.778mph but will move to the rear of the field Sunday because of a suspension part change. Bubba Wallace was 10th at 177.421mph.

Eight playoff drivers failed to make the final qualifying round and will start outside the top 10. Four of them will start 16th or worse.

Joey Logano qualified 11th, Brad Keselowski 12th, Chris Buescher 13th and Denny Hamlin 14th. Hamlin won at Kansas Speedway in the spring.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified 16th, Ryan Blaney 17th and Kevin Harvick 20th. Kyle Busch did not make a qualifying lap and will start 35th.

Busch’s team is still determining if they can repair his damaged car after having a blown tire resulting in contact with the wall in practice. They may have to go to a backup for Sunday’s race.

Ty Gibbs also did not make a qualifying attempt. Gibbs will be in a backup car after hitting the wall off Turn 2, also because of a blown tire in practice.

UP NEXT: Hollywood Casino 400 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on USA Network.

STARTING LINEUP

Christopher Bell wins pole for Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas

Christopher Bell will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green flag on Sunday in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Kansas Speedway represents the second race of the Round of 16 and the playoff field is still very tight, outside of Kyle Larson who won at Darlington Raceway. Therefore, stage points will be very important and [autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] has the honor of leading the field to the green flag after winning the pole for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas.

Bell’s fast time of 29.954 seconds beat Larson by 0.075 seconds. Martin Truex Jr. will start third while Chase Elliott rounds out the second row in fourth place.

As for drivers positioned around the playoff cut line, Bubba Wallace will start 10th, Joey Logano qualified 11th, and Kevin Harvick will start 20th

The full starting lineup is available below.

2023 NASCAR Hollywood Casino 400 starting lineup:

  1. No. 20 Christopher Bell
  2. No. 5 Kyle Larson
  3. No. 19 Martin Truex Jr.
  4. No. 9 Chase Elliott
  5. No. 45 Tyler Reddick
  6. No. 1 Ross Chastain
  7. No. 34 Michael McDowell
  8. No. 3 Austin Dillon
  9. No. 24 William Byron
  10. No. 23 Bubba Wallace
  11. No. 22 Joey Logano
  12. No. 6 Brad Keselowski
  13. No. 17 Chris Buescher
  14. No. 11 Denny Hamlin
  15. No. 99 Daniel Suarez
  16. No. 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
  17. No. 12 Ryan Blaney
  18. No. 2 Austin Cindric
  19. No. 43 Erik Jones
  20. No. 4 Kevin Harvick
  21. No. 42 Carson Hocevar
  22. No. 16 A.J. Allmendinger
  23. No. 48 Alex Bowman
  24. No. 7 Corey LaJoie
  25. No. 10 Aric Almirola
  26. No. 14 Chase Briscoe
  27. No. 51 Cole Custer
  28. No. 41 Ryan Preece
  29. No. 21 Harrison Burton
  30. No. 31 Justin Haley
  31. No. 15 J.J. Yeley
  32. No. 38 Todd Gilliland
  33. No. 77 Ty Dillon
  34. No. 78 Sheldon Creed
  35. No. 8 Kyle Busch
  36. No. 54 Ty Gibbs

Miscues spoil another strong run for Bell

Christopher Bell was again left lamenting mistakes after a long night in the Southern 500 resulted in a 23rd-place finish. “Definitely got to work on it,” Bell said. “It’s been our Achilles’ heel for basically the whole summer. Definitely got to …

Christopher Bell was again left lamenting mistakes after a long night in the Southern 500 resulted in a 23rd-place finish.

“Definitely got to work on it,” Bell said. “It’s been our Achilles’ heel for basically the whole summer. Definitely got to work on it.”

Bell was the fastest driver at Darlington Raceway in practice and qualifying Saturday. But the first 33 laps of the race were the strongest and cleanest part of his night.

On the team’s first pit stop, the jack dropped on the right side of the car, which cost Bell the race lead. Under green flag conditions, he dropped to sixth in the running order. It was a disappointing turn of events for a team that was placed on Bell’s car earlier this week by Joe Gibbs Racing because of their strong performances all year while previously working with Ty Gibbs.

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With a fast enough car, Bell rallied to regain a few spots but then hit the wall in Turn 2 with a few laps to go in the stage. Bell dropped to eighth by the time the stage ended. The car was never the same after the contact and Bell struggled on track as the team tried to make repairs for it to be drivable.

“Just got in the marbles in Turn 2 and damaged the car, really,” Bell said. “That was pretty much the story of our night.”

Behind on their track position, the No. 20 team led by crew chief Adam Stevens tried different pit strategies to keep Bell in the game. But it never worked out in his favor, and the car was never strong enough to run as well as it did at the start of the race.

“If we don’t damage the car, I think it probably works out OK because we’re able to get them on the long run,” Bell said. “But (we’ve) got to limit mistakes, for sure.”

Bell dropped to the playoff grid cutline after Sunday night’s race. He is one point ahead of Bubba Wallace.

“We have speed,” Bell said looking ahead. “We’ve had speed a lot, and I know that in Kansas, we’re going to be fast again. That’s been a really good track for Toyota. I know that we have the speed to do it; we’ve just got to put it all together.”

Christopher Bell talks about his new pit crew for 2023 NASCAR playoffs

Christopher Bell discusses his new pit crew from the No. 54 team before the beginning of the 2023 NASCAR playoffs.

[autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] was one green flag run away from possibly winning the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series championship before Michael McDowell ran into Alex Bowman. Then, Bell brought the No. 20 car down pit road for the last pit stop of the 2022 season and that marked the end of his chances. The pit crew had a slow stop and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver couldn’t recover.

Bell’s struggles on pit road translated to the 2023 NASCAR season as his pit crew ranked 20th on four-tire pit stops. Joe Gibbs Racing realized their struggles and gave the driver of the No. 20 car a different pit crew from Ty Gibbs, which is ranked third on four tire spots. During Media Day, Bell was asked if he had practiced with them yet and gave a detailed answer.

“I did go to pit practice yesterday to certainly get acclimated with the team and let them know I’m all in,” Bell said. “I didn’t want the first time that they worked with me whenever I rolled down pit road in Darlington. On this new team, we have (Derrell Edwards). I drove for Derrell in 2021. I believe he’s the only one that I’ve driven for in the past. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens, but I’m excited about working with such a talented group.”

“Wish nothing but greatness for the former No. 20 group. (Jackson Gibbs), (Nick McBeath), (Kevon Jackson), and all of those guys on the No. 20 group have been amazing people for me. I’m grateful to drive for them. They’ve done a really great job and I wish them nothing but success on the No. 54.”

Bell’s new group actually won the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge at North Wilkesboro Speedway during All-Star Weekend, as seen above. If Bell wants to make another run at a championship, he will need his new pit crew to continue the success it has seen during the 2023 season.

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Despite playoff berth, Bell says he’s missed lots of opportunities

Christopher Bell’s regular season was a bit deceiving. He and the No. 20 team from Joe Gibbs Racing finished fourth in the championship standings with a win on the Bristol dirt. There were also two stage wins and 259 laps led, but there were plenty …

Christopher Bell’s regular season was a bit deceiving.

He and the No. 20 team from Joe Gibbs Racing finished fourth in the championship standings with a win on the Bristol dirt. There were also two stage wins and 259 laps led, but there were plenty of misses along the way that, even as he’s qualified for the postseason as the seventh seed, leave him disappointed.

“Not ideal,” was how Bell described the first 26 races. “What’s crazy is we finished fourth in the regular season standings, which is amazing. If you would have told me from February 1st that you’re going to finish fourth in the regular season standings, I would be like, ‘Yeah, you know what, I’ll take that.’

“But after living it, there were so many more opportunities on the table that got left there. That was very disappointing and encouraging at the same time because I know that we have all of the pieces to not be underrated. [We] just have to put them all together, and if we do put them all together, I think greatness is ahead of us.”

Bell earned 13 top-10 finishes in the regular season, which is two less than the 15 that teammate Martin Truex Jr. put on the board. Truex leads the series in the category. Bell earned six top-five finishes.

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Those are numbers that Bell is unfamiliar with because he simply doesn’t look or keep track. but what he will emphatically say is that there were many more in “the palm of our hands” that they let slip away.

“I know that our success could be much greater,” Bell said.

The late summer stretch – the 10 races leading into the postseason – shows the inconsistency the team fought. Bell had four top-10 finishes, three finishes 20th or worse and three poles.

“It was not experimenting at all,” Bell said, not hiding from consistency being his team’s Achilles’ heel. “I can probably rattle off four or five races right now that were easy top fives and potential race wins if we just get to the end of the race. It certainly just comes down to execution.”

He hopes a reset with the start of the postseason will level things out and put the peaks and valleys behind the team. The good news is that he’s confident they’re headed in the right direction, and there were solid performances in the last few weeks that were enough of a boost that, despite the negatives, Bell said the team is postseason-ready.

“Indy road course was a good steppingstone,” Bell said. “We were able to get out there with a solid top 10. Watkins Glen was really good, so I feel really good about that. I like the schedule in the playoffs; it fits us really well.

“I think we are ready, yes.”

Joe Gibbs Racing swapped the pit crews for Bell and teammate Ty Gibbs going into the first race of the postseason at Darlington Raceway (Sunday, 6 p.m. ET, USA). Bell was the fastest driver in practice Saturday and followed it up by earning the pole for the Cook Out Southern 500.

Christopher Bell discusses his mindset entering the 2023 NASCAR playoffs

Christopher Bell talks about his mindset entering the 2023 NASCAR playoffs with one Championship 4 appearance under his belt.

[autotag]Christopher Bell[/autotag] came out of nowhere during the 2022 playoffs and made the Championship 4; however, Bell came up just short of his first NASCAR Cup Series title due to a late caution. Still, it was very impressive to watch the Joe Gibbs Racing driver take the checkered flag in two must-win situations during the Round of 12 and Round of 8.

Now, Bell is looking to make sure he is not in that spot again during the 2023 NASCAR playoffs as it would mean his back is against a wall. During Thursday afternoon’s Playoff Media Day, Bell was asked if his mindset is different entering the postseason compared to last year due to his newly found experience.

“Sitting here today, I would say that I have the same mindset, but just the ups and downs that we went through last year, I don’t want to go through that again,” Bell said. “I would love to not have a DNF at Texas, the first of the Round of 12, and not have a DNF at (Las Vegas), the first of the Round of 8.”

“Consistency has been our Achilles heel for the (No. 20 car), and hopefully we can do a better job of that and level it out a little more, instead of having these peaks and valleys.”

Bell enters the 10-race stretch with the seventh-most playoff points so there is not much room for error due to how close the entire field is in the standings. The driver of the No. 20 car certainly has the talent to win a Cup Series championship but he needs to be consistent to make it happen.

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