Christopher Bell Believes NASCAR’s Unfinished Business With Tony Stewart Vital for Dirt Racing’s Acceptance

Bristol Motor Speedway was the only dirt track venue on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule for the last three seasons. However, with the iconic racetrack returning to its traditional concrete surface for the 2024 season, there’s an option for other dirt venues to feature in the schedule in the coming years. And according to JGR driver, Christopher Bell, Eldora would be a suitable option for NASCAR to go back to dirt. Why? Well, the owner of Eldora Speedway, Tony Stewart, had already tabled a deal for NASCAR to consider the track for an Xfinity or Cup race after the Truck Series events.

However, a potential deal between NASCAR and Stewart never materialized for the dirt track to mark its entry into the Cup schedule. Rather, Bristol made its way as the dirt race track option in the year 2021.

Christopher Bell believes Eldora is the best dirt track venue that can make its place in the Cup schedule

Sharing his opinion on dirt races and the potential future track venue, Bell said, “I think that there are a lot of different dirt venues out there, but Eldora is the one that really comes to mind, and I’m sure everybody would say the same thing. I don’t think that we should go down the path of having one dirt race a year… So, whenever you have that single event, it becomes easy to overlook, and then people don’t take it seriously.”

NASCAR likes to mix things up by adding a range of racing venues and track surfaces to its schedule. For the time being, they are looking to expand on the road course tracks along with street racing events in Chicago. However, with Bristol returning on concrete for 2024, there is a void for a dirt racing venue on the schedule, and Bell believes there’s no better place to go dirt racing than Eldora.

Drawing a comparison between dirt and road course events, Bell added, “We saw that in road course racing early on in the sport, if you aren’t a good road course racer, you just kind of put it behind you, and we’ll just move on to the next one. The dirt race was very much that way… I think if you want to go down that route, then you need to add two or three of them to make it a priority in the schedule.”

The JGR #20 driver has started the season on a high with his victory at last weekend’s race in Phoenix. However, he still feels that he will need more than just one win to build momentum for the rest of the season.

Bell shares his plan for the rest of the 2024 season, despite bagging the early win

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The Oklahoma native knows a thing or two about winning early and letting that early momentum fade away for the rest of the season. Bell was in a similar position back in the 2021 season, where he won early in the second race of the season at Daytona but wasn’t able to convert a strong start into a solid finish. He did mix things up things in 2022 and 2023, finishing in the top four final driver’s standings. But for him to get a genuine shot at winning his maiden title, he will need more than just one win during the regular season, and he is very much aware of this fact.

“We just haven’t been able to execute on multiple race wins and multiple stage wins. So that’s been a focus for several years, trying to be the team going into the playoffs that has a points buffer…Getting playoff points are hard, the only way getting playoff points are by winning stages and being up in the regular season standings. We need to win more, I need to win more, and the good news is we want to win more. So that’s what it’s all about,” Bell added.

Placed #5 in the starting position for the Bristol spring race, Christopher Bell will be looking to repeat his performances from last weekend and deliver on his target of multiple wins ahead of the playoffs.

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