“Really Doesn’t Make Sense”: Disgruntled Fans Slam NASCAR for Christopher Bell Situation in the Points Standings

Rahul Ahluwalia | 05/04/2025
NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell (20) walks out onto the stage for driver introductions before the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.

The NASCAR championship format has once again come under scrutiny from the fraternity as the sport heads into this weekend at Darlington Raceway. After seven races in the 2025 season have been concluded, Hendrick Motorsports’ four entries sit atop the regular season driver standings table heading into the throwback weekend at ‘The Lady in Black.’

William Byron, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, and Alex Bowman claim the 1-2-3-5 spots, respectively, with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell sitting in fourth place. Despite having three consecutive wins to his name so far this year, fans of the sport were left perplexed by how Bell only sat in P4, level with HMS’ Alex Bowman, who has only one top-5 finish and no visits to victory lane.

Sitting just above Bell, Elliott’s numbers also do not boast the best performance either, with the Dawsonville, Georgia native claiming two top-5 finishes so far, yet sitting three points above the #20 Toyota Camry XSE driver.

Fans of stock car racing did not take kindly to this metric, which in a way highlighted the Playoff format’s discrepancies. Despite Bell being locked into the playoffs, his regular season championship chances are no better than P4 since the focus of the points system is only towards drivers winning their way into the postseason.

Alluding to the same confusing metrics, one fan stated the obvious, “This really doesn’t make sense with Bell having 3 wins.” Another fan chimed in with their opinion, writing, “And the guy who has won three races in the first seven races and finished in the top 5 of those 4 times is 4th in the standings. Right then.”

One follower was ready to look past his HMS alliance and take an objective approach to the points system, writing, “This point system sucks if Bell is not in first and I’m a Hendrick fan.” 

“Bell has 3 wins out of 7 and is 4th, please re-do the entire system,” quipped yet another follower, asking NASCAR to rethink what has been a controversial championship format, to say the least.

Meanwhile, the sport prepares to go live once again from Darlington Raceway this weekend, with drivers and teams ready with their throwback paint schemes in honor of stock car racing’s rich and storied past. The Goodyear 400 goes live on Sunday, April 6, 2025. Fans can watch the race broadcast live on FS1 (Fox Sports) as the green flag drops at 3:00 pm ET.

Post Edited By: Srijan Mandal
Christopher Bell NASCAR Cup Series

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Rahul Ahluwalia

Rahul Ahluwalia is a NASCAR Content Strategist and Journalist at The SportsRush. Hailing from a Journalism and Mass Communication background, Rahul's love for automobiles transformed into his passion for all things racing. With over 1200+ articles under his belt covering a mixture of NASCAR and F1, he has realized his calling in the world of motorsports with actual first hand experience behind the wheel to back it up. He has competed in several autocross events as well as rallycross-style competitions to hone his skills behind the wheel and better understand the mindset of a racecar driver, allowing him to further improve his writing as well. He also has an editorial background with respect to racing and has eye for stories which otherwise go unnoticed. Rahul is also an avid sim racer indulging in various disciplines such as rallying and oval racing during his free time. Having begun his motorsports journey at the start of 2020, he turned his passion into his work allowing him to delve deeper into the ever evolving and world of cars and motorsports. Apart from racing, Rahul also has sound technical knowledge of the automotive industry and automobiles in general. Having grown up playing video games such as Need for Speed, Forza Motorsport and Gran Turismo, it is easy to see where the love for racing and machines inculcated in the first place.

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