Bell Thrives under Pressure in Win at Homestead

• Christopher Bell, driver of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota, says he likes pressure situations like the one he found himself in at Miami-Homestead Speedway.

• Bell needed to win in order to remain in the Cup Series playoff hunt.

• Heading to Martinsville this weekend, Bell is the only driver besides Kyle Larson locked into the championship four.

For the third time in two NASCAR Cup Series playoff seasons, Christopher Bell has secured a victory when he found himself in a must-win situation, and the 28-year-old driver admits he thrives on pressure.

“I love it. I live for those type of moments … whenever you have an opportunity to be great,” Bell said after winning Sunday’s 4EVER 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. “I don’t want to be put in those positions, but I do live for those moments.”

Bell’s second victory this season and the sixth of his Cup career guarantees him a berth in the championship four at Phoenix Raceway. He entered the Homestead event two points below the cutline and admitted the 1.5-mile track wasn’t one of his favorites.

Just like last year, however, when Bell won two cutoff races in the playoffs to advance, the Oklahoma native delivered a victory to secure his second straight trip to the title round in four seasons in NASCAR’s Cup Series.

“Bell is a generational talent in this sport,” crew chief Adam Stevens says. “He is as good as they come. He’s still learning. We’re still learning each other as a team. We’ve got to do a better job as a team and as a company keeping him in contention. When we do that, he’s able to claw his way up there and make stuff happen like the great ones do.”

Stevens agreed with Bell that the reason his driver succeeds in pressure-filled situations is because “he just loves it.”

“He loves trading paint and racing for the win,” Stevens says. “The closer you can get him to the front, the better he does. That’s just the makeup of a real racer and somebody who was born to do this.”

Bell cites his ability not to panic under pressure to lessons learned in racing long before he moved to NASCAR.

“You improve on things every time you get into that position,” Bell explains. “You learn from it, and you get better every time.”

Bell’s first Cup Series season was 2020 when the COVID pandemic didn’t allow practice or testing. He drove for Leavine Family Racing, which had an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing, and had Jason Ratcliff for his crew chief.

For his second Cup season, he moved to JGR, and the team headed by Stevens. Gibbs believes the pairing is a good one.

“I think Adam has done a great job of bringing him along. I think he’s got great confidence in Adam,” Gibbs says. “I told him (Stevens) we’ll put a saddle on Christopher and ride him for 20 years.”

Heading to Martinsville Speedway this weekend, the only other driver locked into the championship four is 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson.

Share your thoughts on Christopher Bell and this year’s NASCAR playoffs in the comments below.