Christopher Bell Drops a Surprising 4-Word Verdict Despite Gateway Weekend Going Up in Smoke

Last week, the longest race of the NASCAR season got rained out, and Christopher Bell snagged the win when the race was called off while he was in the lead. He brought that same speed to Gateway, but like Ryan Blaney, luck wasn’t on his side this time, and he couldn’t crack the top-5.

After swooping past Michael McDowell to snag a win in stage 1 with just a few laps left, everyone thought the No. 20 Toyota had what it took to either win it all or at least secure a top-5 spot. Unfortunately, his car didn’t hold up in those clutch moments when it mattered most.

Christopher Bell’s car let him down right when he needed it most

On a day when he was leading more laps than ever before in his Cup career, Austin Cindric looked set to take third as Blaney and Bell duked it out for the win. But as the race neared its end, the No. 20’s engine started to act up, dropping him back with reduced power, and Cindric found himself in second. Then, as Blaney ran dry just shy of the final lap, Cindric scooped up his second career NASCAR Cup Series win.

With only 18 laps left, Christopher Bell started to lag behind Blaney and quickly began losing steam. Over the radio, he broke the bad news to his team, saying, “I’m blowing up. It’s game over.” His car was dragging on the track, struggling to keep pace. The No. 20 crew chief, Adam Stevens, tried to salvage what they could, advising the driver to tweak his shifting timing. Despite the adjustments, Bell’s speed was off, and he was dropping about a second per lap.

In his post-race chat with FS1, Christopher Bell couldn’t hide his frustration over the mechanical gremlins that cost his team the race. He had been a front-runner, leading 79 laps and winning the first two stages. Post-race, he found himself sitting P11 in the standings, a good 105 points behind his teammate Denny Hamlin. When asked if he sensed anything off with the engine beforehand, Christopher Bell said, “Not until it broke um it was a you know just one one instantaneous break so that was uh that’s all.“ He was also stumped about what exactly went wrong, just surprised the car even made it to the finish.

Despite the bummer finish and missing out on a back-to-back win—something he’s never achieved—Bell remained somewhat upbeat. When asked about his overall day, Christopher Bell maintained a positive outlook, saying, “Yeah, I mean, it’s a huge accomplishment for the overall weekend, you know, we showed up with a great race car. It was super fast and put ourselves in position. If we can keep bringing race cars like this…”

It looks like the Joe Gibbs Racing dirver had even cracked the code to winning at Gateway, but despite being so close, he just couldn’t clinch it.

Did #20 crack the code at the Gateway race track?

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The Oklahoman was on fire right from the get-go, climbing from P4 to snag the lead by lap 41 and wrapping up the first stage on top. The race heated up with evolving strategies and perfectly timed cautions making the second stage a real nail-biter, but Bell wasn’t phased. He powered back to the front when it mattered, bagging another playoff point.

Heading into the final stage, Christopher Bell looked set to repeat his performance, hot on Ryan Blaney’s heels for what looked like the winning move during the last round of pit stops. He nearly pulled it off, too, but then his engine gave out. However, Bell’s blistering pace wasn’t just thanks to his car; he had also unlocked a trick at the track. During a pit road interview, when asked about his tactic of riding the outside in the corners, Bell let slip, “Yeah, I mean, they got a hidden gem here in St. Louis. Really, really cool—you can move around, you can make passes.”

So, would Bell have overtaken Ryan Blaney for the win if his engine had held up?