“I don’t know…and I don’t think I’ve come to terms yet.” It was an absolute heartbreaker for Christopher Bell when he could not cross the finish line first in Las Vegas. The Toyota driver put in all the effort required for a resplendent victory, though. From picking up the pole position to leading 155 of 267 laps of the South Point 400, he gave his all. However, a strong Ford nexus inside Team Penske seemingly toppled his dominance of Sin City.

Defending Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney was supposed to be a lone Penske driver after Charlotte. However, after a Hendrick Motorsports tragedy, Blaney’s teammate got a headstart. However, the points bonus aside, Blaney may have pushed Joey Logano himself, according to Bell’s despaired claims post-race. The Ford driver refuted this though.

Christopher Bell points fingers at the winner’s teammate

Well, Joey Logano had a lot of positive elements in his favor for Las Vegas. For instance, the last polesitter to win at the 1.5-mile triathlon was Kyle Busch in 2009. Christopher Bell’s odds dwindled at Logano’s jaw-dropping stats. The No. 22 Ford has made the championship round in every even-numbered year since the elimination playoffs began: 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024. When the race turned into a fuel mileage game, we knew Logano could have the upper hand—quote Nashville. However, Bell was adamantly pointing fingers at his teammate as well.

After a crucial call to pit for the final time on lap 195, Joey Logano retold his Nashville story. Although Daniel Suarez led the drivers on the fuel strategy, Ryan Blaney apparently pushed Logano, and the latter snatched the lead in the closing laps. Christopher Bell loudly harped on this in a post-race interview: “Regardless of how much time he had, the 12 car was with Joey, you know, trying to play defense for him.”

Bell further added how Blaney probably hurt himself. “It was gonna take the right move to get by him but we didn’t have 30, almost 40, laps…I think it’s fair game. Props to him, you know. The 22 winning was probably bad for the 12 ’cause they’re racing each other for points to get in.”

However, now the South Point 400 winner’s teammate has shrugged off these claims. Ryan Blaney also assigned less credit to Christopher Bell’s overall dominant run. He said, “20 didn’t get to me in the last corner. I don’t know why you think I’m blocking him for – I’m running the top, I’m not taking anyone’s air away.” Then the Ford driver dropped a bold verdict about Bell: “Maybe if he got to the 22 quicker, he should be able to pass me pretty easy. But he was…too late.” Blaney said this despite his miserable spot in the playoffs at present—he is 47 points below the elimination cutline.

On the other hand, Christopher Bell is in a good place, although second place hurts. And he is determined to upgrade that spot next time.

Despite the long face, C. Bell is looking ahead

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Before running the South Point 400, the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver was supremely confident. “I feel really good, I feel really comfortable,” Christopher Bell said after finishing runner-up to Kyle Larson at the Charlotte Roval.

His qualifying lap of 185.344 mph earned him his third pole of the season. But Team Penske’s odds stacked up against his bid for victory and resulted in heartbreak. However, the JGR driver has reason to look ahead. Holding a 42-point cushion above the elimination line, Bell is in the safest spot points-wise. Plus, now we advance to Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he won last year to advance to the Championship 4.

So despite the blues, Christopher Bell is drumming up hopes for his remaining shots at the championship title. “It’s a whole new race next week. This track means nothing for next week. And fortunately, we were able to go and win in Homestead (last year), but nothing’s guaranteed. Just because I ran second today doesn’t mean that I’m going to finish anywhere next week. So yeah,I think the points look pretty good, which is a positive. But you’re never safe in this deal. So we needed to win today. And unfortunately, we didn’t. We’ll go on to the next one.”

Evidently, Joey Logano may not get away with his massive upset just yet. Christopher Bell is sharpening his tools for a grand comeback next week.