“Everybody’s grinning ear to ear,” Christopher Bell beamed after the Sunday race. The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver probably fulfilled a lot of wishes along with his own. Winning the Shriner’s Children 500 race at Phoenix Raceway, Bell became the first driver to win three back-to-back races since the Next-Gen car debuted in 2022.

The Next-Gen car’s single-source parts and complex aerodynamics cause more parity on the field. So drivers never could wield it under control until now. In fact, the 2024 season saw no repeat winners – the last one was Chris Buescher in mid-2023. The last driver to three-peat was Kyle Larson in 2021, before the Next-Gen era. However, Christopher Bell flipped this script totally and was not shy when he doled out credit to his team.

Christopher Bell dominates NASCAR’s innovation

When the Next-Gen car first debuted in 2022, chaos unfolded in the first year. Drivers fell prey to a slew of unintended wrecks. Denny Hamlin complained of soreness from a wreck at Daytona, while Kurt Busch suffered a major concussion during a Pocono race, which led to his retirement. While NASCAR overcame those injury-laden risks, drivers could not wrap their heads around effectively controlling the Next-Gen car. The example is prominent in 2024. Despite winning six races, Kyle Larson faltered in the latter part of the playoffs – and had to yield the championship title to Joey Logano, somebody who won only one regular season race.

So, what Christopher Bell did at Phoenix proved that racers can dominate the Next-Gen. Bell ecstatically shouted at Bob Pockrass in the post-race presser: “We broke the curse, Bob – we broke the curse! …Three straight is just surreal.” The JGR driver went on to heap praises for his team, claiming they worked like a single organism. “It took a while to get here, but we finally did it. I’m just so proud. I am proud of all of the mechanics, the engineers, Adam, the pit crew members, everybody on this 20 car. And what you’re seeing is everybody pulling the rope in the same direction, everybody doing their job to the best of their abilities.” 

Although Christopher Bell thanked his team in general, his team owner was left confused. Joe Gibbs scratched his head post-race about how Bell could break the Next-Gen jinx (Penske winning every Next-Gen championship). Gibbs said, “I’ve got to tell you the truth. I don’t know that I have an answer for that.” The path to his three-peat victory was not easy, though. During the Shriner’s Children 500 race, Bell hoped for a longer green-flag run. However, the caution flags on laps 268 and 295 shuffled his race strategies. The final caution due to Ty Gibbs set off a fierce two-lap battle between Bell and Denny Hamlin – and Bell emerged ahead by 0.049 seconds, the closest finish in the history of Phoenix Raceway.

Joe Gibbs Racing came into the 2025 season with a lot of pressure on them. All their drivers missed out on the Championship 4 for the first time in the ‘playoff era’ and it was a damning moment for the team. JGR had also failed to win a race since Bell’s win at New Hampshire last June. After securing their first-ever pole at the Daytona 500 with Chase Birscoe in 2025, they never looked back.

Aside from Bell, even Hamlin has been very consistent this season. Despite the #11 saying, “There is nobody that I hate seeing win more than my teammate,” Hamlin acknowledged JGR’s consistency this season after the race as he was pipped by Bell in a 1-2 JGR finish at Phoenix. Hamlin ran up front at Daytona until a last lap wreck and finished 6th in Atlanta. Despite a dip at COTA with a 21st-place finish, he bounced back with a stunning P2. Overall, JGR looks like they are ready to dominate the Cup Series grid this season.

This phenomenal pace was all due to Bell and his team’s concerted efforts. Most of all, Bell mentioned the role of his superb crew chief, Adam Stevens, who is no rookie when it comes to a three-peat.

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The will to win again

Well, the Next-Gen car did complicate things a bit. Achieving a three-peat victory seemed out of most drivers’ hands. However, the sheer will and determination of crew chief Adam Stevens may have pulled Christopher Bell through. Back in 2015, Stevens worked with Kyle Busch in the No. 18 team – and they pulled off three back-to-back wins en route to a championship. This was accomplished while Rowdy recovered from a broken leg and foot. Subsequently, the remarkable pair also went on to pick up Busch’s second Cup Series championship in 2019. Although the two split in early 2021, Stevens had the experience to achieve that remarkable feat again.

That is what Christopher Bell remembered after winning in Phoenix. When he first paired up with Adam Stevens in 2021, the latter assured Bell that they would do it again. “I will never forget 2021, my first year with Adam Stevens. Kyle Larson won three straight. Me and Adam got off to a rocky patch, a rocky start. And we’re sitting in his office at JGR. He looked at me and he said, ‘We can do this.’ He said, ‘I’ve won three straight sitting in these exact same chairs,’ talking about him and Kyle Busch. ‘And I know that we can do it.'”

Evidently, Christopher Bell broke the Next-Gen car together with his team. The Joe Gibbs Racing team would be remembered for this phenomenal achievement for years to come.