Bell Talks Homestead Triumphs, Heartbreaks and Title Chase

On 27 October, in our continuing series of Chase drivers leading up to Championship Weekend, we talked by phone with Christopher Bell. Bell drives the number 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. As of the interview he was third behind leader Kyle Larson, trailing by 74 points.

Our first question was about racing at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where in last year's race he wrecked out early. Christopher told us, "I have a very, very big love-hate relationship with Homestead Miami. I do really like the track and I've had some of my biggest moments of my career at Homestead and some of the biggest heartaches of my career at Homestead too. I go back to, you know, my 2017 Truck Series championship came at Homestead. That was incredible. And then fast forward to the Xfinity series when I was competing in it and wasn't able to get that championship through the two years. That was a bummer. And then my Cup Series victory in 2023 was probably one of my biggest wins of my career as well. So yeah, Homestead is just a special place, and I think everybody will say the same thing."

At Talladega, the race just before our interview, Bell was leading when he spun and hit the inside wall while coming to pit road. His team were able to make repairs and get him back on track. Christopher was able to limp his car along to finish 35th, 12 laps down, but still earning valuable points. We asked him to talk about the race. Bell said, "Yeah, Talladega was a bummer for sure. We knew going into it that there was going to be winners and losers. And I don't think we expected there to only be 1 winner and a bunch of losers, but that's the way it worked out. It's unfortunate that it worked out that way, but it's racing and it is what it is. So, we'll make the most of what we have and try and at least put some pressure on the five car (Kyle Larson) when we get to Miami. We need to go out and have an amazing day at Martinsville and let the rest work itself out. But certainly Talladega was disheartening."

The Martinsville Speedway race will run on 1 November. We asked Christopher about strategy for the race. He responded, "I think the way that it's shaken out and how Talladega ended, it does open up our playbook a little bit to be more aggressive at Martinsville. We can go there with a nothing to lose mentality and make sure that we do everything we can to at least make it tougher on him (Chase leader Kyle Larson). He's got quite the buffer right now and we'll see if we can close the gap a little bit at Martinsville."

We concluded the interview by asking about Joe Gibbs Racing with all 4 of their drivers winning this year and in the Chase. Christopher said, "I'm really proud of everyone at JGR. It's been an unbelievable year to get all four cars in victory lane. Ty Gibbs got his first two victories of his career. That was awesome to see. And then, yeah, right now we're sitting second, third, and 4th in the point standing (Denny Hamlin, Bell, and Chase Briscoe respectively with Ty Gibbs in 9th) which is still short of the final goal, but nothing to hang our heads about. So, it's been really good, and I don't know what else to say other than I'm proud of the year that we've had and I think everyone in the company is too. And we'll see what happens in the last two weeks."

About Coach Gibbs specifically he said, "He's just amazing at getting the right people in place. His strive and determination for greatness is something that leads by example and really, it transfers on to everybody that he comes in contact with."

Look for an update on how Martinsville goes for Christopher Bell and the other Cup contenders in next week's Championship Weekend preview article that will also cover the Chase for the O'Reilly Auto Parts and Craftsman Truck Series Championships.