Some drivers set season goals based on the number of wins or top-10 finishes they achieve. Christopher Bell has a different goal in mind.
“I just want to be a factor in the races,” he said.
For his second season in Cup, the 26-year-old joins Joe Gibbs Racing, continuing his climb through Toyota Racing Development’s system.
Bell, who won 15 Xfinity races for JGR from 2018 to 2019, struggled in his first Cup season with an underfunded Leavine Family Racing team that folded after the season. In the playoffs, his best finish was third at Texas. He only has seven top-10 finishes in his career.
“I don’t know how many times my mom or dad called me and would be like ‘How did your race go because we never saw you,’ Bell said.
Last year’s Dover doubleheader was perhaps his most disappointing weekend. He won two of his four Xfinity starts there, although he finished 22nd and 27th in both Cup races.
“Dover was a race I was so excited for,” Bell said. “I’ve obviously run great there in the Xfinity cars. I’ve been a factor every time I’ve been there. That was a race I had high expectations for and I (didn’t) crack the top 20 one time both days there. Dover is one that I’m really excited to get back to and redeem myself and run well there.”
Among all the driver moves this season, Bell will be one of the storylines to keep an eye on. His move to JGR came after the team decided not to maintain Erik Jones, a 24-year-old who won two races for the team and made the playoffs twice in three years. Jones has joined Richard Petty Motorsports as a driver.
Bell formerly worked for JGR at Leavine Family Racing, but now he’ll be working out of the shop with two-time Cup champion Adam Stevens as his crew chief. Expectations are high for the 2017 Truck Series champion.
“Biggest darkhorse I think is the guy with the most pressure, Christopher Bell,” former Cup champion Kurt Busch told NBC Sports. “He’s got a primary ride, an A+ team. He’s got tons of experience. It’s his time to shine.”
Bell understands that in order to accomplish so, he’ll have to implement what he learned last season.
One of the most significant changes was the switch from the Xfinity composite body, which absorbed greater pounding from the wall or other cars, to the Cup car’s steel body.
“I knew going in it was going to be a big change,” Bell said. “It was so eye-opening how fragile steel bodies are. You’ve got to really take care of them and take care of your equipment and the long-distance races.”
That wasn’t the only adjustment for Bell.
“It was a big deal going to Trucks and learning how to distance race and the distance increased in Xfinity and then it got even longer in the Cup Series,” he said. “That’s been a change every time, moving up a series and it’s taken a little bit to learn.
“I wouldn’t trade my rookie year for the world. and I think that just everything I learned in my rookie year will help me in my sophomore year.”
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