“There is no magic in it,” Christopher Bell insists, pressed to explain his special knack for premium performance in adverse circumstances, both dire and desperate. His latest nifty bit of on-track tenacity last weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway required no sleight of hand, no presto change-o, and the smoke billowing from his No. 20 Toyota’s post-race burnout wasn’t a screen for some other sort of trickery or switcheroo.
Instead, Bell spelled out, it’s a matter of extensive seasoning, having faced chips-down scenarios at each stage of his professional driving tenure. The same clutch impulses that helped him become a star in the ultra-competitive dirt-track realm — where qualifying for a main event is sometimes a wringer unto itself — also aided him on the way to a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series title in 2017, back when the elimination-style playoff format for that circuit was in its infancy.
“You improve on things every time you get into that position,” Bell says, making it a reasonable leap to say he has been preparing all his career for those type of moments. For the second straight year, those same credentials, cultivation in the clutch and tendency for diffusing pressure have him and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team on the brink of his first Cup Series crown.
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Bell converted in Sunday’s 4EVER 400, landing his second consecutive berth in the Championship 4 field for the Nov. 5 season finale at Phoenix Raceway. The Homestead victory didn’t hold exactly the same critical “walk-off” nature of the two round-ending wins that clinched his title-race spot last season, but Bell’s ability to rally from midrace hardships more than met the high-stakes criteria.
It’s a world where Bell thrives, though given a choice, he says he’d prefer an easier path.
“I would rather be the regular-season champion and be able to cruise in on points,” said Bell, who led 26 of the final 38 laps. “In Phoenix, I would rather have a five-second lead and just cruise. I don’t want to have to be put in those positions. But I do live for those moments. I love being great or trying to be great, I should say. Yeah, I love it.”
Bell faced a climb from the beginning Sunday, starting an unlucky 13th and carrying a three-point deficit relative to the provisional elimination line. He was also just a week removed from the sting of a runner-up outcome in the round opener, a narrow loss to Kyle Larson that would have propelled him to Phoenix if their finishing order was reversed.
Bell clambered up to ninth place at the end of the first stage, but went the opposite way through the event’s midsection. An adjustment by veteran crew chief Adam Stevens didn’t connect for either Bell or the No. 20, and the team sunk to 22nd place by the second stage break — their points gap cresting minus-25 as the laps ticked away.
Another set-up change at the intermission provided an opportunity, and the car set sail with Bell’s guidance. “Still wasn’t quite thinking a win yet,” Stevens said of his initial final-stage gains. “But, man, the more you pile on his shoulders, it seems like the better he does.”
When fellow contenders Larson and Denny Hamlin fell out with late-race issues, Bell was there to capitalize and complete his methodical march back to the front. Even after dropping two positions on his final pit stop, Bell responded to ensure that his return to Phoenix would include a title shot. Pursuits by Ryan Blaney and William Byron — both multiple-time winners this season — were turned back.
Last year, Bell’s crunch-time conquering came at the end of the Round of 12 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course, then again with a win three weeks later at Martinsville Speedway to cap the Round of 8. He won’t need to replicate those dramatic results in this weekend’s return to Martinsville for Sunday’s Xfinity 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM, NBC Sports App). His Homestead heroics did enough.
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“As far as what makes Christopher great in these pressure situations, he just loves it,” said Stevens, who was crew chief for both of Kyle Busch’s Cup Series titles in 2015 and 2019. “He loves trading paint and racing for the win. 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 is only in his fourth season at NASCAR’s top level, but that didn’t stop the drawing of a connecting line to Kevin Harvick, whose driving days in the Cup Series will come to an end at Phoenix. Harvick tributes were everywhere at Homestead, from the pre-race ceremonies, his throwback paint scheme, to the race name itself — a nod to the theme of “4EVER” for his farewell tour.
Harvick earned the nickname “The Closer” for his propensity to finish strong in many of his 60 career Cup Series victories. Bell’s big-league win total is now just a tenth of that figure, but it’s at least a start toward inheriting some of that reputation, if not the nickname.
“I mean, Harvick is obviously one of the greatest to ever do it. I’m a far stretch from that,” Bell said. “I am proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish I guess is the right way to say it. But I don’t think that anybody will be ‘The Closer.’ That’s Kevin’s motto, that’s what he did. Hopefully, I’m Christopher Bell.”