NASCAR

‘I Don’t Really Have A Message To Send’: Christopher Bell Staying Humble After 2 Wins

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By
Jared Turner
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Jared Turner Sports Editor

Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.

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Published05 Mar 2025

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Christopher Bell - Victory Lane

Three races into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, Christopher Bell already owns a pair wins — coming over the past two weekends.

So, Bell must feel like he’s the driver to beat this year, right?

Well, not so fast. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is taking a cautious, humble approach on the heels of this past weekend’s Circuit of The Americas (COTA) victory that followed his triumph the previous Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Christopher Bell Is Nowhere Near Ready To Taunt The Competition

Given that Bell is batting an impressive 66.6% in 2025, no one could blame him for brimming with confidence. Bell, however, is quick to point out that he’s led a total of just nine laps over the two races he’s won.

It’s worth noting, too, that both of Bell’s victories have come by narrow margins. At Atlanta, he was less than a car length ahead of Carson Hocevar and Kyle Larson when the caution flag froze the field on the final lap.

Then, this past weekend on the road course in Austin, Texas, Bell took part in a spirited late-race battle for the lead with Kyle Busch. Once finally clearing Busch, Bell then fended off a hard-charging William Byron by less than half a second.

For these reasons, Bell is nowhere near ready to proclaim himself superior to any of his competitors.

“I don’t really have a message to send to any of them, but it’s nice to be able to capitalize on race wins,” Bell said. “Last year, there were so many race wins that got away whenever I had the fastest car. At Atlanta and COTA, I kind of won without the fastest car, so it’s really nice to get those back that I lost last year.”

Bell went to Victory Lane three times in 2024 but could have won a lot more races, given that he led a whopping 1,145 laps in his No. 20 Toyota.

“I have paid a lot of attention to laps led and races won,” Bell said. “They don’t always correlate. It’s good to be able to win the races that you don’t lead laps. It sucks whenever you lead laps and don’t win, but that’s how it goes sometimes, and you have to look at the positives out of it.”

Christopher Bell Seems Well-Positioned To Make It Three In A Row

Although Bell isn’t pretending like he dominated either of the two races he’s won in 2025, he is justifiably optimistic about what his team led by veteran crew chief Adam Stevens can accomplish this year.

After all, Bell has already picked up a valuable 10 playoff points from his two victories. So, not only is the Oklahoma native locked into the playoffs, but he’s likely to enter the season’s homestretch with an advantage over some of his fellow championship contenders.

“It’s amazing to be sitting here with, more importantly than two wins, 10 playoff bonus points,” Bell said. “We’re in a pretty good spot right now.”

Bell also seemingly has a good opportunity to prevail for the third race in a row, since this Sunday’s event at 1-mile Phoenix Raceway was the site of his first win from 2024.

Bell called last year’s spring race at Phoenix, where he led 50 of 312 laps, “an amazing show for the 20 car.” He believes a repeat performance is possible this weekend in the Arizona desert.

“I’m excited about what’s to come,” Bell said. “We have high expectations and high hopes and goals for this year.

“Frankly, the last couple of years being at Joe Gibbs Racing in this No. 20 car, I haven’t been living up to the standards that I hold for myself. Our goal going into 2025 is to do that. Or my goal is to do that for myself.”