“Turned That 25th Into a Top-5”- Christopher Bell Credits Kyle Larson’s Texas Misery for a Shot at the Championship Title

In 2023, Christopher Bell turned a lot of heads as he made his way into the championship race in Phoenix. Denny Hamlin was the clear title favorite among the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers but it was Bell who had shot to achieve the dream in the final race. His dream might have come crashing down but the 29-year-old recently revealed that he was grateful for even getting to Phoenix and Kyle Larson had a part to play in it.

2023 was the second consecutive year that the driver of the #20 car made it through to the championship race in Phoenix. The year before, he finished P3 in the championship. It has been a good couple of years for the Oklahoma-born driver who will be looking to keep his form up. But he did acknowledge the luck factor which was involved in 2023.

Christopher Bell hails Texas miracle for second straight championship race appearance

As per the JGR star, it was the playoff race in Texas that changed the course of his season for the better. At the time, he was several points off the cutline and was running outside of the top 20. Christopher Bell might not have even made it into the round of eight, let alone Phoenix. However, the #5 of Kyle Larson was involved in a wreck which brought out the caution.

The #20 team took a gamble at the time to keep the 29-year-old out while almost everyone else pitted and that turned out to be a fantastic move. From a position outside the top 20, the JGR star finished in the top 5, and his form picked up since then.

“The biggest thing that happened to get me to Phoenix this year outside of a win was Texas. Texas was the start of the round of 12 and behind Texas was Talladega and we knew that getting through Texas with points was gonna be a very, very important piece of the puzzle. All of Texas, I ran like 25th all day long and I’m pretty sure I was like -20 to the cutline all day long and then…pretty sure it might have been the Larson wreck that jumbled all the strategy up and we ended up staying out and we turned that 25th into a top 5. Without that, I don’t know if we’d get to Phoenix…I don’t know we’d have made the round of eight without that great change of events in Texas,” the Joe Gibbs Racing pilot said on a recent episode of the NASCAR Live podcast.

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But that was last season and this is a new year. Everything goes back to zero and the goal for everyone in a team like Joe Gibbs Racing will become the same, winning the Cup Series championship. He might not be considered the face of JGR, but it is high time Christopher Bell stepped out of the shadows.

Is it time for Joe Gibbs Racing’s #20 driver to win the championship?

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Despite two back-to-back appearances in the last four in the past two years, it feels like Bell is in the shadow of his two veteran teammates, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. One can’t help but wonder, what does Bell need to do to establish himself as one of the faces of the team? Well, the answer is quite simple, win the Cup Series.

At 29 years old, the driver of the #20 is entering the prime of his NASCAR career and he definitely would not want to spend it as an afterthought behind two drivers well over their 40s. Christopher Bell has what it takes to make it to Phoenix, he has proven that on multiple occasions. What remains is taking that one extra step to glory which will cement him as a superstar in NASCAR.

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At the end of the day, he wouldn’t want to end up like a certain veteran teammate he has. Will the Joe Gibbs Racing star be able to step out of his peers’ shadows and finally earn his moment in the sun in 2024? Only time will tell. What are your thoughts on how the upcoming season should be for Bell?