Christopher Bell is one of the favorites to win the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship. He has won three of the season’s first nine races and sits third on the points table next to William Byron and Denny Hamlin. What track could intimidate a driver of such high caliber and skill? The one where numbers and teamwork play a huge role.
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Bell mentioned the Daytona International Speedway and the Talladega Superspeedway as the tracks that he finds the toughest to race at in a recent interview with Rubbin is Racing. The reason for these drafting-style tracks being so difficult for him is that he races for Toyota, a manufacturer that has far fewer cars on the field than Chevrolet or Ford.
Teamwork is one of the most crucial elements to winning races on superspeedways, and Bell finds himself at a disadvantage on this front. As far as venues that test individual driver talent go, the Darlington Raceway is the one that poses the biggest challenge for him. Many would agree with his explanation of why.
He said, “The track is super narrow. It’s super slippery. You’re sliding all over the place. You have to be right up against the fence and do that consistently without hitting it.”
“So, yeah, I mean, Darlington is probably one of my favorite tracks because it is the true test of driver skill.” He finished the race at Darlington in third place earlier this month.
How has Bell performed historically at superspeedways and Darlington?
Achieving good results at Daytona and Talladega comes down to a lot of luck. Drivers can find themselves forced to the garage because of a wreck they had nothing to do with. On the other hand, they can also find themselves leading the field through little to no good work. It is mainly a matter of being at the right place at the right time.
Bell has finished in third place twice on superspeedways. He brought the results in at Daytona both times. In Talladega, he finished in fifth place back in 2021.
It is rather surprising that he hasn’t found it in him to win a race on these tracks yet. Hopefully, that much-awaited Victory Lane visit will come when he returns from the ongoing Easter Break.
He has never won a race at Darlington either. He finished in third place last September as well. Across 12 appearances, he has three top-5 finishes and four top-10 finishes.
