Information By: TOYOTA RACING – HOMESTEAD, FL – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Friday prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
How long did it take for the sting of last weekend’s race to wear off?
“Yeah, it definitely was (a bummer). But I’d have to say (on) Monday night, I closed the book and moved on. There’s a lot worse positions to be in and you know, obviously, once that disappointment wore off, you realize we’re running really well, had a great day at Las Vegas and we’re trying to carry the momentum over to Homestead.”
How do you feel about the reaction to your radio chatter at the end of last weekend’s race?
“I mean, I don’t know. I own it. I try to not curse, but in the moment, it was a very passionate (pause). I don’t know, I was overcome by emotion at that time and yeah, I don’t know what else to say other than I just didn’t really think about what (all) I was saying, right? It was just emotion, disappointment, and yeah, passion.”
Do you care if that is out there?
“I mean, I don’t know. I don’t really care. Normally, I’m not on ‘Radioactive’ (laughs). That was one of my first appearances on ‘Radioactive.’ But, yeah, I guess it doesn’t really matter to me. It was a passionate moment, and you know, this sport is full of those. And yeah, I guess I’m glad I contributed once in my life.”
Do results like you had last week hurt worse than races where you made a mistake during?
“Yeah, that’s definitely what goes back into Bob’s (Pockrass, FOX Sports) question about my radio chatter and that’s why it hurt so bad, because everything went literally, exactly how we dreamed it up and we still lost the race. You’ll have that and Adam (Stevens, crew chief) told me before we even started racing together back in 2021, ‘I can probably count on one hand the amount of times we won with the best car and everything went smoothly,’ and the majority of your wins come from the days where you don’t have the best car or people make mistakes and it falls into your lap. And, you know, unfortunately, it (Las Vegas) was one of those deals. And that’s happened a lot to us this year. Between (pause), you can start rattling off the races, but there’s been races where we’ve executed and one everything well and didn’t win. So, yeah, that’s why it hurts so bad.”
What is the strategy for these next two races – to gain max points or something different?
“Yeah, I think that’s what we’re planning on (gaining max points). You know, that’s why you’re in the Round of 8, trying to transfer to the Championship 4. You’re never really safe. The three of us William (Byron), Kyle (Larson) and myself have kind of, the way that the cards fell, we’re kind of essentially point racing each other, and the guys below that are far enough below, they’re basically out of the points and essentially racing for wins. Certainly, we’ll know more once we get through Homestead on Sunday night, but, right now, we’re planning on there being three winners and the three of us – William, Kyle and myself – are racing for that last points spot. There’s a good chance William, Kyle or myself could win this weekend and it could change. But plus 42 (points) sounds great until you realize every time someone wins, that cutline shrinks more, more and more, or that gap to the cutline. You’re never safe and it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be a battle all the way until the checkered flag at Martinsville and, you know, everybody knows how important those wins are. That goes back to last week and why I felt the way I did.”
What was the passion you had for the sport as a young driver? Was there a moment that you knew this is what you wanted to do for your career?
“Yeah, I mean, it’s tough as the path to get here (NASCAR Cup Series) is so unclear as a kid in my shoes, growing up dirt racing and the thing is that’s just so hard to fathom, there are 38 cars that race on Sunday. And how many racers in the United States want one of those 38 rides, so just the number is so small and to get yourself into this position is so hard, so, you know, for me, I never thought it was a possibility. Whenever the door started opening up, racing for Toyota in the USAC ranks, it was (pause), the door was opened up, but the path to get there was so far away. Now all of a sudden, you’re in with a manufacturer, but at the time, we had JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) and that was like six cars? I don’t know, but still, just you go from 38 (cars) to six, it becomes so incredibly difficult to get one of those rides and yeah, I never really saw the pathway to Cup. It was hard for me to envision that, even when I was in Xfinity (Series), because at the time, JGR had Erik Jones in the 20 car and you know, younger veterans with Denny (Hamlin), Carl (Edwards) and Kyle Busch. So, it was like, ‘how am I ever going to get in one of those seats? Those guys are young, Erik’s going to be there forever.’ So, I was always content with what I was doing, and you know, I never really tried to make it to the next level, just tried to execute what I could where I was at in my career. Fortunately, those results brought other opportunities from that, but I was never looking forward, just trying to do the best I could do in the situation I was in.”
Is there added pressure to perform and win for Toyota because they’ve helped mold your career?
“No, you’re right, but the thing is, when we started this journey back in 2013 of me joining Toyota, we didn’t have a goal to be a Cup champion. It was always just ‘put him in this position and let’s see what happens. How will he do once he gets into late model races?’ And then, oh I did well and then it was ‘let’s see how he does whenever he does Truck races?’ So the goal was never to be a Cup champion, the goal was to be see how he (himself) does and whenever I got to the Cup Series, it’s not (pause), my goal is to be a Cup champion, but I don’t think from the Toyota side it was ‘okay, you need to be a Cup champion or that’s the goal, to be a Cup champion.’ And I’m proud to be competing for a Cup championship. And I’m proud to reward them with wins, and obviously, it would mean the world to me to bring them another championship. It’s just been a heck of a ride for sure, and that’s one thing I’m proud of with Toyota is that they never put that pressure on you, right? Like ‘you need to be a Cup champion and you need to be an Xfinity Series champion,’ or whatever. It’s just ‘see what you can do,’ and it’s kind of talked for itself.”
Do you take that same mental approach for yourself?
“Yeah, I mean I completely put the most pressure on myself out of anybody. But I always just try not to envision the end goal and focus on what the process is to get there. And that’s always been my M.O. I’ve never been one to set goals to ‘you have to have this many top-fives, or this many wins, or whatever.’ You know, I guess a little of it is that the goal once I got to the sport was to make that championship race and be a part of that final four, but there are many ways to get to that. So, yeah, I’ve always with myself, just focused on the job and not the end goal of like saying ‘I need this many stats or race wins.’”
Where does that come from – your dad and family?
“Yeah, it definitely stems from the people I grew up around and who have instilled knowledge in me. I go to my dad and my uncle and my car owners in my younger years and they just, I guess, molded me into what I am. Yeah, that was I was always trained (to do) – to not focus on what’s out there, just focus on your job and to do the best you can.”
You’re the most recent winner at two of the next three race tracks on the schedule. Does that give you any advantage?
“I think that the advantage that I have, and a lot of us have, is that we know we’re going to be competitive. But every race is a new race, and just because you won this race (Homestead) last year or Phoenix in the spring does not guarantee results by any means and it does not mean that you’re the favorite or whatever. You have a good feeling you’re going to be competitive because the track hasn’t changed, the cars haven’t changed, the rules package hasn’t changed. So, ‘you’ll be in the hunt’ is a good way to look at it. But the results of the previous race don’t guarantee anything.”
Does your team feel any more momentum from those results?
“Yeah, I mean the biggest thing is knowing you have a good baseline and you’re going to be fast. And there’s going to be a group of us who will be fast in practice and qualifying and, yeah, you take your top-10 guys and they’re probably going to be the top-10 guys, but the running order will be shuffled a little bit here and there. Yeah, the best way I can explain it is, we know we’re going to be competitive. We were competitive here last year and at the Phoenix race in the spring. You know, going back to those race tracks, we expect to be competing for the race win. But to say you’re going to win the race because you win the race last year is just false and inaccurate.”
Do you think winning the first race in the Round of 8 is as big of an advantage as we think?
“Yeah, I mean it’s definitely an advantage to just have a clear headspace and time to prepare. I go back to my two years of making it (Championship 4). Now everything I’m saying, (Ryan) Blaney completely blew (it) up last year. But, yeah making it from Martinsville, everything was such a blur and such a rush, and like ‘holy smokes, you just won the race,’ to Nancy (Padula, Joe Gibbs Racing) saying we have to book flights to get to Phoenix early and now we have to do the simulator and get extra simulator time. You know, the teams have their routine to prepare the car for every week, but the Phoenix car is a special car and if you’re in the final four, it deserves to have more time and effort put into it. So, winning that first race is huge and yeah, it’s an advantage. And I noticed that from winning Homestead last year, having that extra week to prepare.”
Winning Homestead last year, did you do anything different compared to your normal routine knowing you were already in the Championship 4?
“At least for me, I went to the simulator all week from Homestead to Martinsville and the track I drove was not Martinsville. Yeah, I remember I was doing Q (qualifying) runs, different setups and all of the things that, literally, we won at Homestead, and Martinsville, you didn’t speak of it. It’s all about Phoenix. I haven’t been in the position where you win the first race (in the Round of 8), but there’s such a difference between winning (at) Homestead versus winning (at) Martinsville.”