Christopher Bell heads into NASCAR Playoffs in prime position for Glory

gettyimages-2170213831 — CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - SEPTEMBER 04: Christopher Bell speaks with the media during NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Media Day at the Charlotte Convention Center on September 04, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

Christopher Bell, who qualified for the Championship 4 race in 2022 and 2023, has been consistently fast at Phoenix, site of the season finale.

In fact, he’s the winner of the most recent event at the one-mile track in the Sonoran Desert, having taken the checkered flag on March 10.

In 2022, Bell was seeded 10th entering the Playoffs, with 11 Playoff points to his credit. A year later, he was the No. 7 seed, with 14 Playoff points. He finished third and fourth, respectively, in the final standings.

This year is different. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has more of a safety net. With three Cup victories, 10 stage wins and a fourth-place finish in the regular-season standings, Bell starts the 2024 Playoffs as the No. 2 seed, with a cushion of 32 Playoff points.

“We’ve got a little bit more wiggle room than we did the last couple years,” Bell said on Wednesday at NASCAR Cup Series Media Day at the Charlotte Convention Center. “Our path is definitely a lot different this year than what we’ve had the last couple of years because of our seeding position, the Playoff points that we have.

“So hopefully, our path is much different. In 2022, I had to win (to make the Championship 4). In 2023, I basically had to win, and now we’re in a position where we might not have to win.”

Bell thrives on pressure. A premier dirt-track racer, he won three straight Chili Bowl Nationals titles in midget race cars. The Chili Bowl in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a week-long pressure cooker where the winner emerges from a field of roughly 350 drivers.

“Growing up, that was the most pressure in that (preliminary) heat race,” Bell said of his experience at the Tulsa Expo. “The heat race might be the Round of 16 or the Round of 12. The feature is the championship race.

“Just the duration of nerves and intensity is a little bit longer with this (Playoff), but I feed off of it.”