Although he hasn’t won a race in the playoffs yet, Christopher Bell has been the most consistent driver in the last six races. The Joe Gibbs Racing star has an average finish rate of 6.33, far ahead of second-placed William Byron (11.33). He has made it to the Championship Four in the last two seasons and he is well on his way to do it again.
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It’s not just the playoffs in which Bell has been performing well. In the last 10 races, he has scored eight finishes inside the top 10. That’s incredible consistency and something that even the likes of Kyle Larson have failed to achieve. Heading into the Round of 8, Bell sits in second place on the points table with a comfortable cushion to the elimination line.
Average finish in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs (Through 6 Races) pic.twitter.com/zRLP2zlPkz
— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) October 14, 2024
None of the remaining races are wildcard ones and that should help him maintain this consistency. With Martin Truex Jr. retiring at the end of the season and Denny Hamlin in the twilight years of his career, Bell will be the one leading JGR into the future. He finished P2 in the Roval race last weekend and will be hoping for a similar result at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.
He already has three wins to his name this year. Getting one more in the next round will give him a lot of confidence for the rest of the competition. One aspect in which he has to improve is his ability to win the big, crucial races. Being consistent alone will not get him the title since the Cup Series playoffs don’t operate as a points-based league system.
Bell goes to Vegas with an aggressive mindset
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has never won in Vegas but he boasts two top-five and four top-10 finishes there. He finished P2 in last year’s version of the upcoming fixture, losing out on the checkered flag by only .082 seconds. Bell knows that he has to be aggressive this weekend. A good point is that he has won a Round of 8 race in each of the last two seasons.
“I don’t think we can go into this weekend and afford to be cautious at all. You’ll have to be aggressive, you are going to have to be earning stage points and competing for the win,” he said in a recent media interaction. “I’m looking forward to getting back there and racing at one of my favorite racetracks.”
The No. 20 driver suffered heartbreaks in the last two seasons, failing to win the championship. He is looking for redemption now and winning the first race of the Round of 8 would send a strong message to his competitors.
