How Christopher Bell Plans to Remain Competitive for a Future Indy 500 Attempt

The Indianapolis 500 is the dream race to enter for many drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. Christopher Bell is not an exception. The Joe Gibbs Racing superstar expressed enthusiastically on the Rubbin is Racing podcast earlier this month that he wants to race in the event. But how does he plan to arm himself with enough firepower to be competitive in it?

As the world knows, Kyle Larson raced in the famed race last year and stumbled on his feet. He had to serve a late penalty for speeding on pit road and finished in 18th place.

The big question for anyone aspiring to follow him into open-wheel racing is how they are going to do at least better than him. Bell is not sure that he can be competitive but has high hopes.

He said, “The Indy 500 is unique because there is a lot of practice for that event. I would hope that if I got a good ride and drove for a good team, I could get up to speed by the time the race started. They’re in Indianapolis for almost a month of getting track time and stuff.” He continued to note how there is a lot of seat time for drivers during the qualification process as well.

But at the end of the day, he was willing to make no promises. He declared, “I don’t know it. There’s no promise that I could be competitive, but I would hope that I would be, you know, in the mix at some point in my career.” Bell is a lot like Larson in the sense that they both love racing outside NASCAR. Perhaps their rivalry could soon extend from dirt racing to IndyCar racing.

Why Bell wants to race in the Indianapolis 500

The Indy 500 and the Daytona 500 are two of the biggest events in global motorsports, with each being a crown jewel for their respective series. For a driver to win one of them means that their name will live in history forever. This is why Bell has high ambitions to conquer the Indy 500 someday.

He said, “Well, Daytona and Indy are like the two events that you have Global, like, casual fans that don’t really watch racing, watch those two races because that’s what they know about. So, yeah I mean that that’s definitely circled on my list to do.”

Bell is currently preparing to race in the Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami. He has won three consecutive races in Atlanta, COTA, and Phoenix before finishing 12th in Las Vegas last Sunday. Hopefully, he will be able to get back to Victory Lane this weekend.

Post Edited By: Rahul Ahluwalia

Christopher Bell Indy 500 Kyle Larson NASCAR Cup Series

About the author

Gowtham Ramalingam

Gowtham is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. Though his affinity for racing stems from Formula 1, he found himself drawn to NASCAR's unparalleled excitement over the years. As a result he has shared his insights and observations by authoring over 3000 articles on the sport. An avid fiction writer, you can find him lost in imaginary worlds when he is not immersed in racing. He hopes to continue savoring the thrill of every lap and race together with his readers for as long as he can.

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