By Seth Eggert, Writer
Ridgeway, Va. – Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell battle with handling ultimately ended with his elimination from the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in Sunday afternoon’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Bell’s No. 20 Coofandy Menswear Toyota Camry XSE slipped back and forth between being too loose and too tight at the tight turns of “The Paperclip.” Over the course of a run he’d get loose, leading crew chief Adam Stevens to attempt to tighten the car up.
Once the car was tightened, the speed loss the Norman, Ok. native suffered from was at the start of the run.
The swings in handling and the struggles that accompanied them meant that Bell was unable to outpoint Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson in the first two stages of the 500 lap race. With Larson’s teammate, William Byron, taking the win in a must-win scenario, the 30-year-old was bumped out of the Cup Series Championship Four.
“We were just going loose with laps and then you try and tighten it up and it just hurts at the beginning of the run,” Bell explained. “And then whenever you loosen it up, I actually felt pretty good at the beginning. I could keep pace and make a few passes and then I just really struggled at the end.”
Another factor in Bell’s struggles was the new left side tire that Goodyear had brought. While the tire did wear, there was not a major differential based on strategy. That left the Toyota Racing driver feeling stuck where he was on track.
“There was not a big enough tire differential there and I was stuck,” Bell said. “I had a track position at times, and I had tires at times. Well, they definitely were (wearing), by the end of the runs, it was there. It seemed like mine were more than the others and that was the difference maker.”
While the struggles and ultimate playoff elimination left Bell disappointment, the sting was not comparable to last season. One year ago he was penalized after wallriding through the final corner, effectively knocking him out of the Championship 4.
Unlike the 2024 season, Bell sees this year’s contenders, Hendrick Motorsports’ Byron and Larson, as well as Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin, as deserving of the championship battle at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway.
“No [I’m not heartbroken], I’d say it feels a lot better than last year, for sure,” Bell admitted. “I genuinely feel like the four going there are very deserving, and it is what it is. We knew coming in here, we were going to have to outrun [Larson], and we didn’t do it.”
Although he is no longer in the playoffs, Bell has the opportunity to play spoiler in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix. In 11 starts at the one mile track he has two victories, most recently in the Shriners Children’s 500 earlier this year. In that race he led 105 laps and took the win in a dramatic photo finish.
Broadcast coverage for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix starts at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 2, live on NBC, the Motor Racing Network, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.