Christopher Bell went to New Hampshire Motor Speedway with the wind at his back, riding the momentum of last weekend’s Bristol win and armed with confidence from his victory at Loudon a year ago over Chase Briscoe. On paper, the weekend looked set up in his favor. On track, though, his No. 20 Toyota lacked the pace to defend the crown.
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Bell qualified a distant 19th and could only watch as Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney set the tone in the Mobil 1 301, with Blaney sealing the win. He salvaged five stage points in Stage 2 and clawed his way to sixth at the checkered flag, turning the day into a respectable points haul, though it fell short of JGR’s and his own expectations.
Asked about his team’s form and whether it’s strong enough to deliver a title, Bell cut straight to the heart of the issue.
“What we have to do better is we’ve got to start qualifying better. That is mission-critical. We’re frustrated a little bit of how we’ve qualifying especially compared to our team cars. I say that because the team cars are the barometer. If the team cars are qualifying well, then you should be qualifying well too. And, through the summer months, we couldn’t even put it in the top 10.”
Bell emphasized that lap leadership stems from starting position, and that is the biggest hurdle his team must clear to join the front-running contenders. He believes their race pace has stacked up well against the field, but starting from a hole each Saturday has left them fighting uphill battles.
“We’ve made gains on our qualifying performance and now it seems like we can consistently put it in the top 10, but our teammates are consistently putting it on the front row. Whenever you get deeper into the Playoffs, you have to be scoring stage points, and a lot of the stage points are dictated by your qualifying effort. So, yeah, that’s mission critical. We’ve got to start qualifying better, and along the lines of qualifying better, that’s how you lead laps.”
He further explained that in recent months, qualifying sessions have exposed a recurring weakness. His car hasn’t had the balance his teammates enjoy. Still, he sees the potential, pointing to the success of fellow JGR drivers as proof that the No. 20 group can match them if they hit the sweet spot.
Bell admitted the team has been off by a fraction, and that’s all it takes to lose ground. Hamlin and Briscoe, he noted, have been nailing their setups, while he has come up short. Some of it lies with the car’s balance, some with execution behind the wheel.
“All of us – myself, Adam (Stevens, crew chief), the engineers, we all have to just buckle down and improve that if we want to go deeper here,” Bell said.
Sitting fourth on the playoff grid after New Hampshire, 29 points above the cutline, the JGR driver remains in position to advance to the Round of 8 for the fourth straight year as he continues chasing a first Cup Series championship.
Next stop is Kansas, the second race of the Round of 12, where Bell finished seventh last year. In 11 career starts at the 1.5-mile oval, he owns an average finish of 12.4, including three top fives.
