Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell is finding it hard to watch the Championship 4 race go down without him in competition for the title. He missed out on the spot after a chaotic last lap in Martinsville that was filled with race manipulation and illegal moves. Although he initially tried accepting the outcome and moving on, his emotions escaped him when speaking to the press in Phoenix.
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He claimed that he felt cheated and that he would have progressed had it not been for the obvious race manipulation that gave Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron an advantage. He also expressed his belief that he shouldn’t have been penalized for riding the wall in the final moments of the race since he had not intended to do so and gained nothing from it.
His words were strong and harsh. He added, “Yeah, it all stems from what happened with 15, 20 to go. Whenever the race got fixed and manipulated by Chevrolet. That forced our hands to do what we did and ultimately it forced me into a mistake on the last lap to get into the wall.” He contended that Byron would have lost out if the race had been run fairly.
Naturally, the #24 Hendrick Motorsports team did not take well to these opinions from Bell, which a section of the fandom also has. Crew chief Rudy Fugle gave his opinion on whether he thought Byron deserved to race for the championship.
Fugle defends Byron against unfair criticism
The HMS crew chief responded, “We have three wins this year, which is as many as a lot of drivers. Only a couple have more than that. Scored more points than anybody else in the playoffs. I feel like our team is peaking at the right time. Yeah, I think we’re competition and well-deserving to go race for a championship on Sunday.”
With three wins, 20 top-10s, and 12 top-5s, Byron is one of the most well-performing drivers this season. Sure, Bell and Kyle Larson beat him on the stat books on crucial categories but the current format rewards more than just plain numbers.
Byron made it to the Championship 4 last season as well. But he missed out on winning his maiden title after being bested by Ryan Blaney. He has the chance to seek redemption this time. Bell, on the other hand, will seek to play spoilsport in the finale and win the race for himself.
