LOUDON, NH — Joe Gibbs has fielded Cup cars for Denny Hamlin since 2005, earned a decade from Tony Stewart and is poised to replace Martin Truex Jr., who has driven for the team for the past six years of a career of 21 years. career. The Hall of Fame football coach and NASCAR team owner knows how to get all the miles and years he can out of his elite drivers. Gibbs could have a long, long contender ready to stay in the No. 20 Toyota.
Christopher Bell isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
“We can ride it for 20 years,” Gibbs said.
Why not? The 29-year-old driver from Oklahoma became a legitimate contender to win the Cup championship this season after overcoming wet weather in New Hampshire on Sunday to win for the third time for Joe Gibbs Racing. That total tied Kyle Larson, William Byron and Hamlin for the most in the series this season. Bell has won multiple races in each of the last three seasons and has 11 top-10 finishes in 18 races in 2024.
If he maintains that kind of consistency as NASCAR enters the second half of its season, Bell could find himself among four drivers competing for a championship in the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
“I think Christopher is a talented kid, and the more he gets, the more we appreciate him,” Gibbs said. “I think he’s a young, talented guy. I’m telling you, he’s a typical American guy. Sponsors love him. He’s a guy everyone loves.”
Even after Bell hoisted the traditional lobster in victory lane, he still couldn’t completely let go of some of the wins that eluded him this season. He mentioned a missed opportunity at Circuit of the Americas when he couldn’t catch Byron in the final two laps and another difficult situation at Richmond. As strong as 2024 was for Bell and Gibbs’ team, it’s hard for him not to think it could have been better.
“It’s pretty easy to start racking up wins, right?” Bell said. “It’s been a fun ride and I feel like we’re close to hitting our stride. I’m excited for what’s to come, that’s for sure.”
Bell had a little help in New Hampshire, where his moonlight attempt at the Xfinity Series ended with a victory as part of a weekend sweep, thanks to severe weather and NASCAR’s call to finish the race. with rain tires.
It was a race Bell would not have won before this season: New Hampshire was stopped by rain with 82 scheduled laps remaining and would not have restarted without wet tires. That would have meant a checkered flag for leader Tyler Reddick.
Once the skies cleared after a 2 hour and 15 minute delay, NASCAR took out the tires on an oval for the first time to end a Cup Series race and allow it to reach the scheduled finish. Due to late crashes and caution flags, New Hampshire even got four extra laps, giving Bell the victory in 86 laps of driving on a wet track.
“They’re a lot of fun,” Bell said. “What we’ve lost on the Next Gen car of being able to slide the car and make it ride very loose, yeah, I can’t describe it better than that, but we got it back with the wet tires. Whenever the track is wet, you can slide more. the car and drive it more on the right side, driving it more on the right rear.
Bell, Gibbs and crew chief Adam Stevens raved about the wet tires.
“I don’t know what to say other than it’s just a knife edge,” Bell said. “You’re going to keep trying, pushing your inputs, pushing your mid-corner speeds, pushing your exits until you figure out the limit and what’s too much.”
Bell also won this season at Phoenix (perhaps a championship sign?) and last month’s rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 with 151 laps left in the race.
He won the 2017 NASCAR Truck Series championship for JGR and made his Cup debut driving for Leavine Family Racing in 2020 as part of an alliance with Gibbs. When Leavine closed at the end of 2020, Bell was officially back at JGR, replacing Erik Jones. He won on the twisty Daytona circuit in 2021 and finished third in the standings in 2022 and fourth last season.
“Christopher has really sacrificed his way up,” Gibbs said. “He’s raced a lot on dirt and stuff. When I first met him, he told me, ‘Coach, this is all I can do, I have to be successful in racing.'”
Through 162 career Cup races, Bell has certainly found the success he told Gibbs he needed to find in NASCAR.
Christopher Bell exits Turn 1 with his car in a NASCAR Cup Series race, Sunday, June 23, 2024, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH (KeynoteUSA Photo/Steven Senne)
Christopher Bell, front left, holds a lobster as he stands with his wife Morgan, front right, as they celebrate after he won the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday, June 2024, in Loudon, NH (KeynoteUSA Photo/Steven Senne)
Christopher Bell, top, celebrates with team members as he exits his car after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Loudon, NH (KeynoteUSA Photo/Steven Senne)
Christopher Bell raises his arms as he looks at the crowd after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Loudon, NH (KeynoteUSA Photo/Steven Senne)
Christopher Bell holds a broom after winning the NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Sunday, June 23, 2024, in Loudon, NH (KeynoteUSA Photo/Steven Senne)
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