Redemption Seeking Christopher Bell Highlights the Importance of Phoenix Victory After Last Season’s Championship Heartbreak

When Christopher Bell’s brake rotor exploded last year during the Championship 4 round at Phoenix, no one expected the driver to be as calm and collected as he was in the post-race interview. Burying Joe Gibbs Racing’s struggles in the finale to focus on the year ahead, it was clear that the #20 JGR driver was eager to improve on his season in 2024, perhaps with the championship too. And after Bell scored a dominant win at the fourth race of the Cup Series at Phoenix Raceway, all bets on the #20’s redemption are on.

Christopher Bell erases last year’s Phoenix misery with higher hopes for the 2024 Championship

The 2023 season was the stuff of dreams for Christopher Bell and the #20 DeWalt Camry. But whilst the team entered the round with hopes to take home an emotional title at Phoenix for Joe Gibbs, it all went wrong when Bell’s brake rotor overheated and exploded, puncturing the tire and sending the #20 and their championship hopes smashing into the outer wall.

Talking about the same during a conversation with SiriusXM on NASCAR Radio, the #20 driver shared how his Camry was on par with Blaney’s Mustang. Bell also opined that his failure to capitalize at Phoenix last year had left a major gap in what it takes to become a champion.

He shared, “I felt like my strengths really aligned with the #12s (Blaney’s) strengths, so it was gonna be a good race and unfortunately it didn’t work out but yeah, I mean it, Phoenix is the racetrack. Like, if you’re going to be a champion, you’ve got to be good at Phoenix. So showing strength this weekend and winning the race is obviously a huge confidence boost and the task to make the Championship race at Phoenix is very large, so we’ve got a long way to go before we’re back in that position again, but, we’re off to a good start.”

After last year’s unprecedented woes at Phoenix, Bell was on an unstoppable mission toward securing his first win of the season this time around. After winning the second stage, Bell was in prime position for the win. Unfortunately, it could have all ended in heartbreak once more as he fell back to 20th after a slow pit-stop right before the final restart. However, Bell wasn’t going to suffer another defeat at the hands of uncontrollable variables and fought his way back, past his JGR teammates, and secured the win over Chris Buescher and the #54 of teammate Ty Gibbs.

Reflecting on how rewarding the track has been in 2024, Bell also pointed to the improvements since the Championship 4 race last season. He shared, “It’s always refreshing to win, and that November race, I don’t know if we had a car as good as we did this week, but we were certainly going to make a race of it and it’s disappointing that we got knocked out early because I think the fans were gonna be in for a treat.”

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While it’s safe to say Christopher Bell and the #20 JGR crew have picked up just the pace they needed this season, it has also helped the new Toyota Camry XSE break the spell of Chevy’s early dominance. And, executives couldn’t be happier about it.

TRD’s president credits Joe Gibbs Racing for Bell’s blistering performance

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Ever since the Cup Series championship 4 round made its way to Phoenix Raceway, the Toyota Racing Development has failed to make it past the third spot each season, prompting a lot of frustration from executives. Only a few months ago, TRD President David Wilson had stated, “It’s completely unacceptable that we have yet to win a championship in Phoenix,”

Fortunately, with Christopher Bell’s dominant win at the Shriners Children’s 500, the all-new Camry XSE has finally opened its book of wins for the 2024 season, ending the unstoppable reign of Chevy during the first three races. Reflecting on Bell’s achievement, Wilson was quoted by Racer, “For Toyota, this was a momentous win. This was the first win with our new Camry body. I was clear to say at the beginning of the year that we have struggled here recently. Today we led everything but 14 laps. That’s a credit to the Joe Gibbs organization, TRD USA and Calty Design, who helped us with this new Camry body.”

Toyota’s drivers led all the laps in the Shriners Children’s 500 barring 14 laps, prompting Wilson to feel the TRD cars have certainly made major strides since the last time they were at Phoenix. However, the TRD president was also realistic about their progress, as he shifted focus to Bristol. Wilson concluded, “At the same time, I will say that the secret to longevity in sports, in motorsports, is never getting too high when the day goes your way, and never get too low when it doesn’t because we’re going to be racing again next week.”

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Now that both Christopher Bell and TRD are feeling confident in their 2024 campaign after securing that dominant win, do you think the #20 Camry will cross the checkered flag first at the Championship 4 round?