“I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins his first race back.” This was two-time Chili Bowl winner Kyle Larson’s take on his Cup Series rival’s return to the midget event. Understandably so, as Christopher Bell holds a more dazzling resume than Larson. Bell won the Chili Bowl three consecutive times in 2017, 2018, and 2019 – he last competed in 2022. However, the two-year gap may be taking a toll.

Ever since Joe Gibbs relaxed rules for his drivers’ dirt ambitions, Christopher Bell packed his schedule. He ran the Tulsa Shootout after a three-year hiatus and secured a Golden Driller by beating Kyle Larson in a photo finish. “I’ve got four words. Thank you Joe Gibbs” said the Oklahoma native after his win on his return to dirt racing. Now he is ready to tackle the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals after two years – although the warm-up session is leaving him jittery.

Christopher Bell admits to ‘uncomfortable’ feeling

Well, the JGR driver’s record is one for the history records. Christopher Bell’s three-peat Chili Bowl dominance is second only to Kevin Swindell’s four-time winning record. The last time he entered the prestigious indoor midget race in 2022, he was on fire, finishing second. Driving the 71W Keith Kunz Motorsports midget car, he won the preliminary feature. He felt quite at home at the place he had been coming to since 2011. Bell’s breakthrough win at a Chili Bowl main event came in 2014, and barely months later he won the Camping World Truck Series championship.

Although the JGR racer’s Cup Series victories kept flourishing since 2022, his dirt racing ambitions had to be halted due to his team boss’ demands. So now Christopher Bell is feeling a little detached from his roots. Despite driving the same No. 71W KKM car, Bell confessed that it does not feel the same. “I learned a lot. And I did go run to Du Quin, Illinois, a couple of weeks ago. And one thing that I’ve learned is that the cars have changed. These cars have changed a lot since I drove them last.”

For the past two years, Christopher Bell has focused on his Cup career. Since 2022, he has never finished outside the top five in the championship standings. In 2024, he barely missed out on the Championship 4 race after getting a penalty because of a wall ride in Martinsville. However, now it is time for the Norman, Oklahoma native to bring that feisty energy back to his dirt racing roots. Bell confessed to the need to overcome his jittery feeling: “You know, I was pretty uncomfortable in the car. It just behaved differently than I was expecting it to. So there’s going to be a little bit of an acclimation period for me in the car, for sure.”

Christopher Bell is nonetheless a champion, whom a younger driver is looking up to.

A Cup Series teammate is relying on him

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Joe Gibbs‘ gatekeeping of his Cup Series drivers was due to safety reasons. Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman broke his back in a sprint car injury in 2022. Ever since then, his Cup Series misfortunes have piled up – although he did improve a lot in 2024, making the playoffs before exiting in the Round of 16. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson’s dual success in Cup and Dirt, along with Joe Gibbs’ grandson’s growing interest in dirt racing, convinced JGR to finally open the gates for not only Christopher Bell but also his teammate Ty Gibbs. The 22-year-old cracked the Cup Series playoffs in 2024. Yet transitioning from a 3,300-pound stock car to a 900-pound midget comes with challenges, that Gibbs can tackle with the perfect guidance.

He is relying on the help of former Chili Bowl champions Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson. Recently, Ty Gibbs hailed both of them for allowing him to have fun in his Chili Bowl debut. “I love racing. I’m a fan of it, but also being able to drive it, I’m very proud and happy to do that, so a lot of smiles, and Christopher’s been really helpful to me, and Kyle’s helped me out, too. So this has been, it’s just so fun, and it’s cool to see, you know, this world kind of welcoming me into it is really cool. I feel thankful for that, so I’m just having a fun time.” Gibbs will drive the No. 81 fielded by CB Industries.

A lot of attention is on Christopher Bell for his Chili Bowl return. We are confident that the talented racer will soon get up to speed with his roots.