Fresh from victory in Friday night’s NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell turned serious—and honest—when asked about the current state of his NASCAR Cup Series program at Joe Gibbs Racing.
“We are missing something,” acknowledged the driver of the No. 20 Cup Series Toyota.
It’s not that Bell is having a brutal season. He’s seventh in the Cup standings, with three top fives and four top10’s in seven races. Bell’s 225 laps led are second most in the series behind teammate Denny Hamlin’s 440.
Nevertheless, Bell conveyed disappointment at his failure to win a race so far this season.
“We have the same group, same people, same process and same equipment that we did when we won three races in a row last year,” Bell said. “We have all the resources. We’re just kind of swimming up creek a little bit.”
Bell pointed to the March event at Phoenix Raceway as a pivotal point in the early season. Bell led a race-high 176 laps, but Ryan Blaney took advantage of a late caution to win the race.
“I think, had that yellow flag not come out at Phoenix, and I won the race, we’d be sitting here talking about how great of a season I’ve had,” he said. “But the yellow flag did come out at Phoenix, and I didn’t win the race, and now we’re talking about a mediocre season.
“It just isn’t clicking right now on the Cup side. It feels like it’s really close to clicking, but we’re still striving to be where we need to be and want to be.”
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