No Joe Gibbs driver will battle for the regular season championship at Darlington this Sunday. All things considered, Tyler Reddick, Kyle Larson, and Chase Elliott will be the only ones with that honor at the 2024 Southern 500. If not for Denny Hamlin’s 75-point deduction for a logistical error by TRD, Coach Gibbs’ organization could’ve had their deserving regular-season contender raring for a shot. However, as it stands, Christopher Bell is the highest-ranking driver in the 2024 points standings at 6th.

But before he aims for his first win at the ‘Lady in Black’, Bell discusses the importance of where this crown jewel race falls on the 2024 schedule. Sure, the #20 driver makes a fair point. But NASCAR’s calendar switch for Darlington in 2025 may leave him all but a little disappointed.

Christopher Bell prefers Darlington outside the Playoffs

Most know Darlington as NASCAR’s first superspeedway. Before Daytona and Talladega existed, this 1.366-mile oval reminded the audiences exactly how fast these stock cars could go in reality. This racetrack was the first to make teams genuinely think about race strategies like the ones we usually see on high-banked tracks over 2 miles long. After all, Darlington presents a formidable challenge to even the most experienced NASCAR drivers. The track’s first two turns are more traditionally rounded, while turns three and four are tighter and abrupt, thanks to design constraints imposed by a previous owner’s minnow pond.

The fastest way around is to hug the wall as closely as possible. Any deviation from this line can significantly impact a driver’s chances of a decent lap time, or even worse, earn them a ‘Darlington Stripe’. Darlington’s abrasive surface contributes to high tire wear. As tires degrade throughout the race, drivers constantly adjust their driving style, attempting to tame the “Track Too Tough to Tame”. Add to that the pressure of winning the fabled Southern 500, a race that has been around for the last 75 years of NASCAR’s existence. As Christopher Bell quite rightfully remarked in a recent video conference with the media, “The Southern 500 is obviously a really, really big deal.”

For years, Darlington hosted two Cup Series dates, except for a 16-year hiatus until 2020. Starting that year, the Southern 500 became the first race of the playoffs in the NASCAR Cup Series. That was until this year when the Darlington fall race became the Regular Season Championship finale. However, Bell explains the driver’s perspective better with some interesting revelations. “It’s a crown jewel event, but with it being the first race of the Playoffs like it was the last couple of years, it did feel like you had to be a little bit cautious racing that event because points are so important. Whereas, now, with it being the regular season finale and not in the Playoffs, I do feel like we can be a little more aggressive and try and go all-out for a race win in a crown jewel.”

This Sunday will mark the 127th premier tier race on Darlington’s historic asphalt. 54 different drivers have found themselves in its victory lane. Christopher Bell is still unproven in that regard. As a confirmed playoff contender with three wins this year, he could pull out the extraordinary again. It is important to remember that one of those wins came at another crown jewel–the 2024 ‘rain-shortened’ Coca-Cola 600 in May. Now, with the pressures of a bad Round of 16 outing at a track, he hasn’t run the best on in his career laid off, Bell announced his desire to “win a Southern 500.” And in his eyes, “this is a great opportunity to lay it all on the line and go for it.”

However, he faces more than just a few handicaps at the Track Too Tough to Tame this weekend and the visible future.

Darlington will return to the Playoffs in 2025, but that’s not all…

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For starters: Christopher Bell has never won at Darlington, not even in his three Xfinity starts at the racetrack. His best-ever Cup finish at the racetrack has been a P5 finish at the 2022 Southern 500. Besides that, the #20 driver has only two top-20 finishes in his last 10 starts at Darlington Raceway. To help acclimate better this weekend, Bell will run a double-header in JGR’s #20 Xfinity Toyota on Saturday.

Additionally, even if Christopher Bell wins the race and all three stages, he will still only be fourth in the regular season points standings. That leaves out a significant incentive for the 29-year-old Oklahoma native. So essentially, at this Southern 500, all Bell will compete for is playoff points, prize money, and a prestigious crown jewel victory. And although his crew chief, Adam Stevens, is considering a return after undergoing surgery on both knees during the Olympic break, his limited mobility will probably restrict his involvement, as reports suggest Stevens is still in recovery.

Another threat exists as his #11 teammate, Denny Hamlin, is the highest active race-winner at Darlington. Hamlin has three Southern 500 wins to his name. With his last win coming over three months ago at Dover, Hamlin will certainly be hungry for a win this Sunday. Even Martin Truex Jr, a one-time Southern 500 winner, could turn Bell’s hopes of another crown jewel win to dust.

Regardless, while speaking to Speedway Digest, Bell explained the nuances of the racetrack in a manner that reflects healthy confidence. “Darlington is all about execution, putting the race together and not making mistakes,” he said. “Darlington is probably the most unique track on the schedule from the way that you drive the track, how narrow it is, the risk vs reward is completely different than most of the other tracks, you are basically forced to put your car right up against the fence to have any sort of pace at all.”

Bell concludes, “You have to be on point all 500 miles and up against the fence, so you have to be comfortable putting your car in that position and driving hard when it’s time to drive hard and you can’t make mistakes.” With this rare opportunity to contest the Regular Season championship before the playoffs, Bell faces another strange dilemma in 2025. The new NASCAR schedule for next year has Darlington penciled in as the first race of the playoffs once again.

As a driver who’s made it past the Round of 16 the last three times he’s made the playoffs, those bearings with his current perspective, might not be too appealing for Christopher Bell in 2025. But do you think he has a shot to do what he hasn’t been able to this Sunday? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.