Consistent speed helping to ease the second-place pain for Bell

Christopher Bell has had a hard time dealing with his winless streak, but he’s finding solace in how consistently close he is coming to breaking it.

“All of the second-place finishes, they’re trying, and in the moment it really kind of feels like a kick to the gut,” Bell said Friday at Richmond Raceway. “But when Monday and Tuesday roll around, you’re like, ah, it was a pretty darn good day.”

Bell has finished second on seven occasions this year, most recently a week ago at Iowa Speedway to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs. It was the fourth time that Bell finished second to a Toyota teammate. He had led 108 laps, second most on the day, and was the leader going into the final green flag pit cycle.

On the season, Bell has 10 top-five finishes in 23 starts. It’s moved him to sixth in the championship standings. 

“Ultimately, the results that we’ve gotten have meant a lot more this year than what they have in my entire Cup career with the format change,” said Bell. “So, it’s been nice to stack some good results together, and we’re performing really well right now. I certainly feel like we’re in the mix.” 

The race got away from Bell at Iowa with a four-tire call on the final pit stop. Bell was the leader going into the cycle, but was jumped by Gibbs, whose team took two tires.

In hindsight, after reviewing the race and how it played out, Bell understands crew chief Adam Stevens' thought process. The call, in Bell’s mind, was the right one. Stevens also admitted to Bell that he thought and expected Gibbs to take two tires, but that there was enough time in the race to get him back.

“I didn’t think there was any way I wasn’t going to get him in 60 laps.” Bell said, “So, ultimately, it didn’t work out, and we’ll chalk it up to another second place.” 

The one thing the team is kicking themselves over is how Bell’s car changed for the last run. Bell went from being able to challenge and take the race lead on Ryan Blaney earlier in the day, to being loose and sliding around while trying to chase down Gibbs.

“There wasn't really going to be any way for me to even move him out of the way without seriously jeopardizing both of us,” said Bell. “I was so loose that if I would have tried to make any sort of contact, it was going to make my car jump sideways.”

With the theme of the season being what could have been, Bell and his No. 20 team have faced every variable the sport produces. There are races he doesn’t know what he could have done differently at the end to change the finish. But other races came down to a lack of execution by the team.

With NASCAR reverting to a Chase format, Bell is enjoying the type of racing the series now has because even without a win, his performances matter, and every point and every stage matters. The one adjustment, however, has been trying to break the win-or-bust mentality, since there is no guaranteed postseason berth through a victory. 

“You have to have good, consistent, strong runs every single week, and that's what we're doing,” Bell said. “Unfortunately, we haven't got to victory lane, but we've we have been running really well.”