“I’m not much of a superspeedway guy,” these are the words of Christopher Bell whose Toyota crossed the finish line first at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Joe Gibbs’ Driver stood out, qualifying the 30s while dealing with an ill-handled car for much of the race, and somehow found himself celebrating in Victory Lane. But there is something Bell did beyond just raising the trophy, he inadvertently provided a masterclass, touching upon the dramatic mental shift drivers experience as they move through different phases in the race.

Hanging around in the tail-end of the field is not a good feeling. But after qualifying 32nd, Bell had to endure the tough phase of the race. But, as the field recycled after constant yellows and big crashes, the No. 20 Toyota Camry finally saw some daylight. And this is when Bell realized that he had a shot to win the race.

Bell understood the importance of track position in Atlanta

Bell delivered his most fundamental observation when he detailed how his performance changed between fighting at the back and competing at the front of the field. “In the 30s to the 20s to the high teens. My car was feeling a certain way. But then once you get put up in that top ten and that top five, you’re like, wow, OK, like this is different. Wow, this is different,'” he explained on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour Podcast as he felt, being inside the top ten felt like a totally different race compared to fighting at the back.

Call it luck, precision or outright fluke, this is how superspeedway races are turning out to be in the Next Gen era. Ideally, Austin Cindric should’ve won both the Daytona and Atlanta races, he was clearly the best driver on the field. The Penske star led 47 laps last Sunday but was ultimately shoved into the wall by Larson, opening the door for Christopher Bell to make his cheeky move.

From struggling to striking, Christopher Bell’s path to victory lane

Bell’s triumph demonstrates the powerful advantage of experiencing all three mentality zones in a single race. His change in racing position led Bell to switch his mental approach from backmarker psychology to front-running optimism which brought him victory during the final lap. “Our best move, or at least my best move on the 20 car, is to be behind and then try and poke out at the very end and be the aggressor,” Bell revealed – showing how the elite mentality embraces calculated risk in ways impossible from further back.

With this psychological lesson mastered at Atlanta, Christopher Bell now looks ahead to venues that better suit his natural driving style. “Now we’re getting into the bread and butter of our schedule going into COTA and Phoenix, Vegas,” Bell expressed excitement about the next races of the schedule. After dodging the superspeedway challenge, he will be eager to stamp his authority at his favorite venues. 

Last year he won during the spring race at Phoenix and came oh so close with a runner-up finish at COTA. Moreover, Bell has also found joy at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in three of his last four races that have resulted in top 5 finishes. With the playoff spot all but secured, the JGR driver will look to spread his wings and push the limits in upcoming races.