Winless Bell knows Cup title chances hinge on breaking through

Christopher Bell might have had a smile on his face while engaging with the media and projecting confidence this week about the Chase, but he is well aware of what he’s facing.

“Can we do this? Can we win a championship? Yes,” said the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. “Can we win a championship without winning a race? No. I don’t believe so.”

Bell and the No. 20 team are, of course, winless. It has been one of those seasons in which Bell has had speed, has been in position on more than one occasion, but has come up empty. Or, as he has described, there have been good second-place finishes and bad second-place finishes.

In the process of coming up short for reasons like untimely cautions, bad restarts, pit strategy, and not executing races, Bell has led almost 600 laps. He is tied for the third-most top-10 finishes in the series.

Of the top seven drivers in the points standings, Bell sits the highest without a win. Kyle Larson is behind him in seventh position.

“No, it does not feel like a tall task at all,” Bell said. “I think we’re going to win.”

The Chase begins Sunday night at Darlington Raceway, where Bell has never won. He is 50 points behind teammate Denny Hamlin for the championship point lead.

“I feel really good about where we’re at,” said Bell. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we’re going to be the champion in 10 weeks, but I think we’re certainly capable of it. I do believe that the champion will be a Toyota, and I think the champion will come from the top six seeds.”

Bell is a previous winner at five of the final 10 tracks.

“I’ve been kind of making a small joke that if I am going to be the champion, then I better have a points gap on the field going into Talladega and the final three [races],” he said. “So, certainly our strength is the beginning of it; the first seven are all really good tracks for me.

“I think my best hope is I have a points gap going into the final three.”

The final three races are Talladega Superspeedway, Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Of that stretch, Bell has a win at Homestead, while his average finish at Talladega is 19.6 and 14.2 at Martinsville.