If we talk about playoff consistency, Christopher Bell stands apart in the Next-Gen era. Bell is the only driver in the Next-Gen era to consistently make it to the championship 4. The 2024 season would mark his hat trick if he continues that streak and Bell has been outstanding in these playoffs. The Joe Gibbs Racing #20 has always stayed above the cut-line, never once has he even come close to it.

However, what’s different in 2024 from the last two playoffs is that Bell hasn’t won a single race! You read that right. While he did come close to bagging one on two occasions, he ended up agonizingly in P2. And this is after Bell has repeatedly talked about how winning your way into the championship 4 is important as that gives a driver more time to prepare for the big event as well as adds to the momentum. And Bell did that in 2022 (won Martinsville) and 2023 (won Homestead Miami). However, this year something is missing! After the recent Homestead race, Christopher Bell dwelled on it.

Christopher Bell opens up on what’s lacking in his 2024 playoff run

In the most recent Las Vegas race, Bell ended in P2 to Joey Logano after leading 155 laps. The Penske driver just led 6 laps and snatched the victory away from the #20. This left Bell utterly disappointed since this could have been his ticket to Phoenix. And this is not the first instance of him leading the majority of laps and not converting it into a win. Even in the round 2 opener at Kansas, Bell led 122 laps but eventually ended up in the 7th position. Even at the ROVAL, despite only leading a single lap, he finished P2 in a very winnable race.

At Homestead, Bell came as last year’s winner but wasn’t in contention for the win this time in the epic last-lap battle that unfolded. Bell started the race in P3, and after fighting for the lead in the first few laps, he stayed out of it. Bell finished 6th in stage one and 3rd in stage 2. On the final restart, Tyler Reddick led the race, but Hamlin was quick to take the lead from him with 7 laps to go. Ryan Blaney, too, passed Reddick to battle Hamlin. Amid this tussle, Reddick came back to take them both in the last lap and finally took the checkered. Blaney finished 2nd and Hamlin ended in third.

Christopher Bell, finishing in 4th, had the front-row seats to this battle but could not be a part of it. Bell was 7th during the final restart, although he gained 3 positions, that was the extent of it. Post the race, Bell dwelled upon the reasons behind not being able to catch up. He said, “I wasn’t as fast as some of the other guys…We have seen amazing racing (in the round of 8), that last 8 laps at Homestead was as good as it gets, I enjoy being a fan. There were times in the race where I felt like I could contend, but I couldn’t consistently do it. Specifically after restart, I just didn’t have the mojo I had last year on restarts. There are always a couple cars better than me.”

What would have ideally invited disappointment brought in relief and excitement for the Oklahoma native. Well, despite a P4, Bell remains +29 to the good of the cutline. Now, would that be enough? Only time will tell. But, the JGR driver is pumped to get to the round 3 eliminator at Martinsville. “I feel a lot better today than I did after Las Vegas, that’s for sure, and it’s gonna be a battle. We knew that, I knew that when the checkered flag, flew at Las Vegas that it was going to be a battle to get into the final 4. And that’s the way it should be, I’m excited about it, this round of 8…It’s gonna be a war at Martinsville and I’m excited for it,” Bell added.

Next up is Martinsville Speedway, NASCAR’s shortest track (0.526 miles), and the #20 is confidently heading there despite not having the best runs in the past.

What are Christopher Bell’s chances at Martinsville?

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Martinsville hasn’t been kind to Bell in the past. In the 9 races so far, the #20 driver has only finished once in the top 5 and twice in the top 10. On all the other occasions, Bell has finished 15th or worse, his career average finish so far at Martinsville has been 16.2. In the most recent race, in the spring of this year, he ended the race in P35.

Before running full-time in the Cup, Bell drove in the Truck Series. Bell is also the 2017 regular season truck series champion and the 2017 Truck Series champion. However, despite his tremendous success in his tenure there, he never won in Martinsville. His best finish was a P3 in 2017. However, Bell is confident heading into the race. If all goes well, a top-5 finish would probably be enough for the JGR driver to progress into Phoenix.

After the Martinsville race, Bell said, “Coming to Homestead, you look at the guys who run well here and you’re expecting a winner from the bottom half of the grid, and I think the same thing will happen in Martinsville. So, yeah, I’m glad we’ve been able to maximize our points and in order for us to transfer (to the Championship 4), we’re still going to have to be running for the win in Martinsville. You have to win races in the Round of 8, and we haven’t done that yet. I feel confident about where we’re at in Martinsville.”

Well, currently, Bell is third in points, with William Byron closest to him with +7 points in 4th and Kyle Larson in -7 points below the cutline in 5th. Byron has seen success at Martinsville, winning the race twice with an average finish of 13.8, which is better than that of Bell’s. Whereas Larson has an average finish of 16.7 at the track, 0.5 behind the #20. Even Denny Hamlin is not far behind in points as he currently sits in the 6th position with -18 points. And the #11 happens to be the winningest driver (5 wins) at Martinsville among the active ones.

Overall, it’s going to be a tight battle for the last two spots. Only time will tell who prevails. Do you think Christopher Bell will make his third championship final? Let us know in the comments below.