While some drivers have found adjusting to the Next Gen cars hard, Christopher Bell has only been improving. He’s won three races so far this season and is one of the favorites to make it to the championship round for the third straight year.
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He might not have won the Cup Series race at Kansas but crossed a significant milestone as he finished P7. The 29-year-old became the first #20 driver since Matt Kenseth in 2016 to have led more than 800 laps in a single season.
Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the biggest organizations in stock car racing today. It has a rich history and some of the greatest drivers of all time have driven the #20 car. Among them are the likes of Kenseth and the three-time Cup Series champion, Tony Stewart.
Bell had big shoes to fill the moment he got inside the car. But three years since joining the team, he has proven himself worthy of carrying on the car’s legacy in the sport.
The 29-year-old replaced Erik Jones in the #20 car and at the time, he called it a bittersweet experience. Bell had been around Toyota for the entirety of his racing career and it was a big deal for him to join the strongest Toyota team in the competition. However, the same was the case with Jones who had to part ways with the team.
Thankfully, the gamble paid off for JGR, and in a big way. They now have a driver who has made it to the championship race twice in two years and is looking like a title favorite once again. The only thing left to do is win the competition and create history.
Bell’s career has been about milestones and constant improvement
If one looks at Bell’s career in the highest division of stock car racing, setting new records has been a trend. He won the race at New Hampshire earlier this year and became the first driver to earn 50 top-10 finishes in the Next-Gen era.
Other drivers who have done that in previous generations of cars are Jimmie Johnson with the Gen-6, Jeff Gordon with the Gen-5, Dale Earnhardt Sr. with the Gen-4, and Bobby Allison, Richard Petty, and Lee Petty with older models.
The #20 driver has consistently improved in the Cup Series and the Next-Gen car has not hindered that progress. If anything, Bell seems to be benefitting greatly from it. He joined JGR in 2021 and won a race in his very first year.
The new car was introduced next season and he won three races on his way to the championship race. He made it to the finale in 2023 as well after winning two races that year.
There is still a long way to go in the season but the #20 driver will hope that he can go that one extra step further and claim the title. It won’t be easy but Bell has proven that he has what it takes to get the job done.
