Vegas breakthrough win for Bell ‘needs to be now’

Christopher Bell would like to remind everyone that the NASCAR Cup Series championship battle isn't a two-man race.

As the driver sitting third in the points standings, Bell has a front-row seat to the conversation around Kyle Larson and his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Denny Hamlin. The two have traded the point lead through the first four races of the Chase, but Bell is working hard to not let them get too far away.

“Yeah, I’m watching them,” he said with a smile Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway about his view from third. “I’m watching them, and I gained on them for several weeks, then I kind of lost a little bit last week. So, we’re close, but winning is the name of the game. We’ve seen that when I won the first race and really made a jump in the standings, then Larson won and Joey [Logano] won, and then Larson winning again really elevated himself above the competition.

“We’ve got great opportunities to win; Vegas has been the one that’s gotten away from me over a lot of races now, and I’m very excited about trying to conquer this place.”

Bell has been one of the biggest storylines in the fall Las Vegas race for years. He has done everything but win at the track, and the ways in which Bell has had them slip through his fingers are salt in the wound.

In the last three fall races at Las Vegas, Bell has finished second (2023), second (2024), and third (2025). He’s led 216 laps.

“I’m going to win one of these times, so hopefully, it’ll be this time,” said Bell.

There is no better time than Sunday with the stakes so high.

“That’s right,” said Bell. “It needs to be now.”

A win would help erase the 50-point deficit Bell is in, and he will be considered a favorite. Given that, it will be seen as an opportunity race for him, given his history at the track. While Bell is confident that if things go well he could take a chunk out of the lead, he also knows it’s not that simple.

“My competitors are going to run really strong here, too,” he said. “So, whenever you think of the favorites at Vegas, Denny and Kyle are going to be right up there. That is what is going to separate us: who wins?

“I think stage points, we’re going to be within one, two, three, or four- but that win bonus of separating yourself by 20, that is where the chips are going to fall.”

The last three fall races in Las Vegas have been won by Hamlin (’25), Logano (’24), and Larson (’23).