Inside The Garage: Christopher Bell In Title Chaos Despite Ups And Downs

Phoenix Raceway (Avondale, Ariz.) — Christopher Bell finished second at Charlotte a week ago and left fuming. He finished fourth Sunday at Phoenix and left hopeful. That’s what The Chase will do to drivers. It’ll make them stew over missed opportunities. Then it will make them feel thankful when they can capitalize on another driver’s misfortune. The bottom line is Bell sits just five points behind Kyle Larson with three races remaining in the season. Granted, he doesn’t love superspeedway racing enough to really look forward to Talladega next week. But Martinsville and Homestead — the final two races of the year — are places where he knows he can run well. “I’m absolutely in it,” Bell told me and other reporters after the Phoenix race. “We’ve just got three more races to decide a champion. I think there’s a lot of us who are in it.” That’s true. Six drivers are within 56 points of Larson. But Bell is the closest at just five points behind. He’s trailed by Chase Briscoe (24 points behind Larson), Denny Hamlin (minus-31), Ryan Blaney (-40), Joey Logano (-44) and Tyler Reddick (-56). While Bell led a race-high 85 laps at Phoenix, he didn’t feel he was the best car or the best driver late in the event. “Early on, I felt like we were going to be able to contend for the win, and then Stage 2 we lost a little bit. And then Stage 3, same thing. There were quite a few guys that were better than me,” Bell said. “It came down to strategy and restarts at the end. And we had good strategy, put tires on it, and was able to get a good finish. “It wasn’t a super pretty day, but with other people having mistakes, it ended up being a good day for us.” It was a good day because Larson struggled throughout and ended up blowing a tire, resulting in just a three-point, 34th-place day. Bell earned 49 points on the day, cutting the gap from 51 points to five points. Adam Stevens, the crew chief for Bell and winner of two Cup titles with Kyle Busch, indicated being five points behind certainly puts them in position to make a run at Bell’s first Cup title. Talladega brings its normal uncertainty as well as the change in the spoiler from 4 inches to 3.5 inches. The opening stage, being more than half the race, is also still something relatively new. “A lot of unknowns still,” Stevens said. “Martinsville, we’re going to have to hit it right. Thankfully, we won there … if we can get [Christopher] close, he’ll be good. And same thing with Homestead.” Bell knows he’s good but also believes he possibly has thrown away opportunities. He was curt in his answers after Charlotte, where he made a late run on Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe, only to come up a few feet short. The two had a little bit of contact, but Bell said he had no issue with Briscoe. It was more with himself as he had attempted to rally for the win. “I felt like we had the race under control through the early parts of Stage 3 and then lost the lead and Chase started driving away,” Bell said Saturday at Phoenix during a news conference. “I had got to be pretty content with second. I was like, ‘OK, it’s going to be what it’s going to be’ and then all of a sudden, the last couple of laps just kind of teased me a little bit. “I was disappointed in myself coming to the line. I thought that I probably could have done a little bit more to get the win, so the frustration was really [with] myself.” He put that frustration behind him with a solid run at Phoenix. And now he needs to survive the chaos of Talladega. “The difference maker is who gets those wins and then Talladega,” Bell said. “Whatever happens at Talladega, the likelihood of a crash at Talladega is a lot higher at that track than other tracks. “It can hinder your points that you [earn]. Between Talladega and race wins, that’s going to be the deciding factor.” That might not be in Bell’s favor. He has two teammates — Briscoe and Hamlin — still fighting for the title, as well as Toyota driver Reddick. They likely will all be fighting for points. Larson doesn’t have any teammates within striking distance for the title and potentially will get more help from the Hendrick and the overall Chevrolet stable. “That’s a real thing. That’s not a made-up story,” Stevens said. “That’s something that we’re going to have to battle against. It’s a one-horse race over there [at Chevrolet], and they have those resources to put toward it. “So if it comes down to group decision-making, we’re at a disadvantage for sure.” In The News — In a flurry of O’Reilly Series announcements for 2027: Brennan Poole announced he would move from Alpha Prim Racing to Jordan Anderson Racing; Ryan Ellis will move from Young’s Motorsports to Alpha Prime; Blaine Perkins will move from Jordan Anderson to Sam Hunt Racing. — JR Motorsports has hired Tristan McKee to drive in the O’Reilly Series at races next year after he turns 17, as well as in 2028 with the goal of a full-time schedule in 2029. His first race will be at Bristol in August. The ARCA East champ will also still drive select truck races for Spire Motorsports. — In Indy NXT, Niels Koolen will move from Chip Ganassi Racing to Abel Motorsports. In the Indy NXT test Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Tymek Kucharczyk posted the fastest time among the Indy NXT regulars. — ARCA, which has run a General Tire-branded tire in recent years, will go to a Continental-branded tire in 2027. General Tire and Hoosier are both Continental brands. — U.S. Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling visited the Universal Technical Institute in North Carolina, the trade school that often funnels many graduates to NASCAR teams. Sonderling also attended the Charlotte race Oct. 11 and the INDYCAR race in Washington earlier this year. Sonderling: “We’re trying to show how American INDYCAR racing is, we’re trying to show how American NASCAR racing is … and that is an industry that makes us very proud.” Cool Scheme Wave That Flag Social Spotlight They Said It “We’re not friends … but we are acquaintances.”— Christopher Bell on Kyle Larson