'There is no room for mistakes': NASCAR's Bell looks to capitalize on surprising playoff start
Posted September 14, 2022 10:20 a.m. EDT
Christopher Bell is the only driver locked in for the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs heading into Saturday night's elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
That's a surprise to many NASCAR fans after the way Bell started the season, but the No. 20 car driver for Joe Gibbs Racing turned his early-season struggles around in a big way.
Bell, 27, crashed the playoff field when he grabbed his first checkered flag of the season on July 17 in New Hampshire with only six races left in the regular season.
"This is only my second time being in the playoffs, so it's all fairly new to me," Bell said in an interview with WRAL. "I'm going to take what I learned last year and apply it to this year and perform better hopefully."
Last year, in his first playoff appearance, Bell was eliminated in the Round of 8 and finished twelvfth in the points standings. "We just did not execute. We brought speed. We had great race cars and great showings throughout the course of the races, but did not get the finishes that we needed in order to advance," Bell said.
This season started with much of the same for Bell. He stumbled out of the gate and finished in 23rd place or worse in four of his first five races. "The biggest thing was just getting our pit road issues under control," Bell said. "We had really good performances throughout the early part of the spring and summer but were hindered a lot in other parts of the equation," Bell said.
With a change in crew combination, Bell found momentum. He rattled off eight finishes in the top 10 in his next 10 races, including that win in New Hampshire. "Once we got deeper in the summer, we were able to capitalize on everything, put it all together, and we were able to run a lot better. So hopefully, we're able to finish these races off, earn the points that we need to advance and put ourselves in a really good spot," Bell said.
With two top five finishes to start the playoffs, Bell has put himself in a great spot. But given how tight the season has been, he knows it's anyone's championship to win. "If you have one bad race, it really, really puts you in a bad spot. Two bad races, then you're going to have to win the third one if you want to (advance), so there is no room for mistakes. You got to be on point all the time, and that's what makes it so tough," Bell said.
