Christopher Bell has established himself as a master of qualifying in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series. The Joe Gibbs Racing man has achieved multiple pole positions already this season. However, he has not been able to convert any of those into a win so far. The trend continued at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway where the driver of #20 started from the front of the pack but could not finish the race in P1. Instead, he had to settle for P2 behind Kyle Larson.

The #20 is yet to take a trip on Victory Road in the playoffs. It is incredible that Christopher Bell has managed to reach the penultimate stage of the competition on points. His record in the playoffs is decent as he has notched up three top 5 and four top 10 finishes so far. His P2 finish at Las Vegas was his best result in the playoffs but it still was not enough to satisfy the 28-year-old.

Christopher Bell takes his boss’ compliment but blames himself for missing out

There is good reason for Christopher Bell to be disappointed with himself. Not converting a single pole position into a victory can be frustrating for a lot of drivers. Plus it is the round of 8. A victory would have guaranteed the JGR star’s place in the championship race. He did bring in a good points haul but at this stage of the competition, it is a risk to rely only on points.

Christopher Bell will not have the luxury Kyle Larson has earned for himself: not taking pressure in the remaining two races of the round. Joe Gibbs’ star will have to put in his maximum effort again next week and hope that he can go that one extra step further.

According to the 28-year-old, his boss, Joe Gibbs, was happy with how he performed on the day. And let there be no doubt about that. Christopher Bell drove a fantastic race under a lot of pressure to finish where he did. Of course, he could have found an opening to pass Kyle Larson towards the end. But that does not make a P2 finish any less commendable.

However, that is not how the driver of the #20 views things. Being a racer is tough work, especially when you hate finishing in second place. Christopher Bell might have thought that his car was quick enough to get the job done, but Kyle Larson was just a little bit better on the day.

When asked about what Joe Gibbs thought of his performance in the post-race interview, Christopher Bell said, “He told me good job so that was cool.”

“But you know, I feel like I let the team down. To come that close was disappointing but you know, we obviously had a great day, so I’m sure tomorrow I’ll be feeling better about it,” the JGR star added.

The Joe Gibbs Racing man was actually quite distraught with how things turned out. But that is just how motorsports athletes of the highest caliber feel. According to Christopher Bell, that was perhaps the only opportunity he would get to seal his place in the top 4.

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In a separate post-race interview, it was evident that the driver of the #20 was heartbroken. He was gutted that his car was not fast enough to beat Kyle Larson’s #5 and said that it just wasn’t enough on the day.

“I don’t know what else I could’ve done. I feel like that was my moment, that was my moment to make the final four and didn’t quite capture it. Coming to the checkered there, I knew that he was going to be blocking, so I’m trying to go high and then he went high. But I don’t even know if I had a run to get by him to the line. So, just wasn’t enough,” he said.

Obviously, these are the words of a man who had tasted defeat only a few minutes ago. The wounds were fresh. After a few days of reflection, one can be certain that Christopher Bell will bounce back and give it his maximum effort. Besides, he still has a very good chance of making it to the final four.

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