Christopher Bell sits at the top of the playoff standings with a 37-point cushion, the best among drivers still fighting for a Championship 4 spot. But his current composure differs from the rare outburst he unleashed earlier in the postseason.
Advertisement
Known for his calm demeanor, Bell had stayed silent even last year after missing the Championship 4 despite holding the highest points cushion ahead of the race. This time, though, frustration got the better of him, and, as it turned out, may have lit a fire under the No. 20 team as well as the driver.
The flashpoint came at Gateway, where Bell finished seventh after starting eighth. When crew chief Adam Stevens keyed the radio and said, “Checkered flag. P7. That’s what we needed today. Takes the pressure off next week [at Bristol, the final race of the opening playoff round]. Good job, guys,” Bell didn’t hold back.
“We just f***ing ran seventh with the best car on the track! Every f***ing week, it’s the same s**t. We’re the last car to pit road. I’m over it,” he said angrily. The exchange came from a place of passion, a driver fed up with falling short despite having race-winning speed.
But then, after a week, ahead of the Bristol race, Bell admitted the outburst stemmed from stacking frustration over underperforming and not delivering the results he believed the No. 20 team was capable of. Still, he and Stevens clarified that they were in a good spot, as the radio message was merely a sign of frustration from not hitting their standards.
From that moment on, Bell turned a corner. He stormed back to win at Bristol, then followed up with a sixth at New Hampshire, third-place finishes at Kansas, Charlotte, and Las Vegas, and an eighth at Talladega, six straight top-tier runs that reasserted his title credentials.
Reflecting on the turnaround before the Martinsville race, Bell said, “I’ve been really proud of him [Adam Stevens], certainly since the start of the Playoffs. Obviously, I had a big blow-up there at Gateway, and I think he and the team and myself, we all rebounded really well.”
He added, “And the performance has uptick since that moment at Gateway, and we’ve been on quite the roll. And I’m just proud of how they responded, proud of myself for being able to put it behind me and correct my attitude or whatever it may be, and we’ve been doing good.”
While Bell acknowledged he could have handled things differently, he believes the blow-up served its purpose. The tension sparked accountability, and since then, both driver and crew have been doing everything possible to finish races in better spots. It now remains to be seen how well the rmainder of the year goes for Bell, and his title hopes.
