Christopher Bell Ready to Rebound at Homestead-Miami Speedway
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has experienced the highest of highs and the lowest of lows through the seven postseason races. With his back against the wall in an elimination race at Charlotte, Bell found victory lane facing a must-win situation. Last weekend at Las Vegas, it all went south.
Bell was running at the front of the field when he was an innocent bystander in the incident between Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson. While those two drivers were getting all of the attention for what transpired, it was Bell that suffered the most. That is really saying something, considering that Wallace has been suspended by NASCAR for this weekend’s race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“Just sad and disappointed because we had it in the grasp of our hands,” Bell said. “We did everything that we needed to do to put ourselves in position to go race for a championship in Phoenix and that’s gone now. It’s going to be very, very difficult to get there.”
The end result for Bell was dropping to the bottom of the playoff standings, 23 points below the cutline. Despite the grim outlook, he is confident that his team can overcome the odds once again.
“I’m going to go into Homestead this week with the same mentality that regardless of where we’re at in the standings or what our position is, I’m going to have to perform at my best,” Bell said. “It’s another opportunity to win a race, and that’s what I want to do.”
After earning top-five finishes in the first three races of the playoffs, Bell was viewed as one of the favorites to win the title. Tire issues at Texas and a crapshoot at Talladega hindered his team in the next round, but he responded with the walk-off win at the ROVAL. After the disastrous race at Las Vegas, Bell has two more opportunities to flip the script.
Bell has finished 8th and 20th in his two starts at Homestead, but has never led a lap on the 1.5-mile track. Looking ahead to Martinsville, he has an average finishing position of 17.4 in his five starts, with his best finish of 7th coming in the 2021 spring race. It might not sound promising, but this No. 20 team always seems to have a trick up their sleeve when the pressure is on.
It has been frustrating, but Bell remains optimistic ahead of Sunday’s race. “It’s been very disappointing because the playoffs started off really well. We were performing at a level that was capable of racing for a championship. We’re not out of it yet. My cars have been really fast, and we’ve been doing everything right. Just have to keep after it.”
