There are two ways to approach the Championship title now. One; put everything on the line and dash forth for the win. And two; try to gather stage points and advance on points. Looking at his run at Las Vegas, Hendrick Motorsports icon Kyle Larson clearly had aimed for the win. In reality, it’s not unusual for him to do so. The current situation of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is not quite suited for the second option.

To this day, every motorsport enthusiast out there has been assuming that the Championship 4 race could be a showdown between two of the biggest teams in the arena of NASCAR: Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. Interestingly, NASCAR has now confirmed that those assumptions were not merely assumptions, and can actually turn into a reality. But how so?

Although the grand finale might not be a word-to-word ditto, it could still be exhilarating

Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, and Martin Truex Jr?these 4 names have been in the top 4 almost every time since this year’s playoffs began in Darlington. But with the on-and-off track history between Larson and JGR superstar Denny Hamlin since Pocono earlier this year, it’s not abnormal for the fans to think that no matter what, these two NASCAR stalwarts will rev their engines at Phoenix in a bitter showdown.

However, with Martin Truex Jr’s recent woes, hopes seem to have lowered slightly for the #19 team. And another team from Joe Gibbs’s garage is taking its place. And the driver of this team is much younger in age, but not far behind the cutline.

Christopher Bell entered the opening race of the Round of 8 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with an 8-point deficit and left the race putting up a close fight behind race-winner Kyle Larson. Not only that, today, he sits 5th in the point standings, just 2 points below his teammate Denny Hamlin.

If there are no new winners over the next two races, three cars could get in on points and Christopher Bell’s #20 Toyota could possibly be one of them. However, if there is a new winner and Bell is not one of them, only one car could advance to the top 4. Bell might not be that one car as the number 20 JGR team doesn’t really have a bag full of bonus points like Truex’s team does.

Watch this story: How Will Joe Gibbs? Decision to Sell His NASCAR Team Affect JGR?

However, it’s not the end for Bell as the postseason is not over yet. Remember how Bell got into Championship 4 with a victory at Martinsville? There’s no reason that won’t happen again.

The last two races are like a gamble; “anything can happen”

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As NASCAR prepares to organize its next event at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the odds against Christopher Bell are quite high. The Oklahoma native has just one top-10 finish in his 3 starts at the 1.5-mile intermediate oval, with an average finish of 13.0.

On the other hand, his teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. have won there respectively in 2020 and 2022. Moreover, Truex has 3 top-2 finishes in his last 5 starts there. Hence, it would perhaps be safe to say that Bell would have to fight his teammates, whilst holding off the big two of Hendrick Motorsports.

Nevertheless, looking at Bell’s run at Martinsville Speedway last year, he rebounded from his last five performances of a 15th-place finish or worse and led 150 laps to win it on the 6th. Indeed, it’s unpredictable what this young man can do. And even he agrees.

Moments after he felt like he had lost his chance to make it into the 4-driver showdown, Christopher Bell spoke to Frontstretch and admitted his feelings about their position moving on to Homestead-Miami.

Bell said, “Lot of prep work for Miami, for sure. I haven’t done well at it in the past, so need to go there and have an amazing day.”

“I feel good that we’re close on points. But you just never know,” Bell said, “I went through the ringer last year, in the last round of 12, in the round of 8, so I understand that anything can happen.”

What are your thoughts on this? Are you more excited for a Bell-Larson tussle or a Hamlin-Larson one? We’d love to hear from you!

Read more: Christopher Bell Makes Painful 9-Word Admission After Falling 0.082 Seconds Short of Appeasing Joe Gibbs