“Was the Granddaddy of All for Me”: Christopher Bell Highlights Importance of Chili Bowl Ahead of Much-Anticipated Return

The 2025 racing season seems to be the year when Christopher Bell rekindles his dirt racing roots once again as the Joe Gibbs Racing driver will be seen competing in this year’s Chili Bowl Nationals back in his home state of Oklahoma.

A recent relaxation of rules on JGR’s part allowed the driver of the #20 Toyota to get back to his roots, just as teammates Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs aim to do this year. Elaborating specifically on the Chili Bowl’s effect on him as a racecar driver during his formative years, the 30-year-old driver said:

“The Chili Bowl has been a special race for me because this was the granddaddy of them all for me growing up in Norman, Oklahoma, this was it. I remember coming here as a kid and walking up to Tony Stewart, JJ Yeley, and Casey Kahne, asking for autographs. This was my race.”

Elaborating further on how the famed event at the Tulsa Expo Center has been one of the crown jewel events when it comes to grassroots dirt-track racing, the Norman, Oklahoma native said, “There’s a lot of dirt races out there but this is kind of the one dirt race that gets attention across of all motorsports. I hope to see this thing continue to boom.”

When it comes to Bell’s prior experience in the famed event, he is one of the record holders in the race as the only the second driver to have won three straight titles from 2017 to 2019 after Kevin Swindell’s record four consecutive wins. Fellow NASCAR Cup Series competitor and avid dirt track aficionado Kyle Larson also comes close to Bell’s achievement with two back-to-back victories in 2020-2022.

How did Bell’s Chili Bowl participation in 2025 break cover?

Just as Bell mistakenly revealed in a press conference how Chase Briscoe was an upcoming JGR driver before the same was announced officially, the former Stewart-Haas Racing driver got back at his teammate for this year and cheekily exposed the #20 driver’s plans outside of the Cup Series.

The now #19 Toyota driver wrote on X, “Guess I’ll finally get him back for this, pumped to see @CBellRacing back at @cbnationals this year.” Bell retweeted the same post and confirmed the news himself, writing, “See you guys at @cbnationals!”

It remains to be seen which driver out of the JGR camp can make their mark on the famed dirt track event in Oklahoma this year. With a home-ground advantage for Bell, it seems like he will be the one to beat as the event culminates this coming weekend.