Christopher Bell is considered one of the championship favorites this year. However, he hardly gets the spotlight like Kyle Larson or Denny Hamlin does, despite similar finishes.
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The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won three races so far this year and has been a consistent top-10 finisher in the playoffs. Ahead of the round of 8, he will hope to win at least one of the three races and book his spot in the playoffs. But does the lack of spotlight bother him?
Bell doesn’t believe it does. There have been conversations about him being under the radar in NASCAR in the past, and even then, he said that fame did not matter to him.
He is a focused race car driver who just wants to win as many races as possible and hopefully become champion by the end of November 10. The JGR star has made it through to the championship round twice in the last two seasons but is yet to win the big prize.
“I don’t care. I just don’t care. I’m going to do my deal, whether I’m headlines or I’m not headlines. I’m going to be frustrated whenever I lose, and I’m going to be happy whenever I win, no matter what the headlines say. I don’t care if you guys talk about me or not. I’m going to try my hardest to win the race, and that is that,” he said in a recent media interaction.
The Cup Series goes to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway where Bell has started nine races so far. The 29-year-old has somewhat struggled to achieve a level of consistency at the track.
He has never won a race there but has earned two top-five and four top-10 finishes and will hope to improve that record on Sunday.
Can Bell beat Larson to the title this year?
Today, race fans see Larson as the strongest contender to win the championship. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has won six races so far this season, including the most recent one at the Charlotte Roval.
He also has a good record on all of the tracks that are featured in the upcoming Round of 8. However, when it comes to average finish during the playoffs, Bell is ahead and by a substantial margin.
Consistent top-10 finishes in the last six races have allowed the #20 driver to have an average finish of 6.33 in the playoffs. He is far in front of William Byron in second place with an average finish of 11.33.
Chase Elliott is third on the list with 12.00 followed by title hopefuls Larson and Hamlin. But the JGR star needs to get to Victory Lane once in a while to become champion.
Despite being under the radar, Bell has proven that he is worthy of being a champion. The biggest problem he is going to face is Yung Money who seems to have found a purple patch of form at just the perfect time.
The #20 driver also needs to find that to stand a chance to compete against the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion.
