There’s a definite upside to Christopher Bell’s position in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff standings—he’s the only one of six drivers still competing for a Championship 4 spot in total control of his own destiny.
If Bell scores 34 points in Sunday’s Xfinity 500—a third-place finish with no stage points—he will advance to the Championship 4 race for the third straight year.
However, that makes Bell’s strategy a bit more complicated than that of his competitors, the majority of whom realistically are in must-win situations—as was Bell when he won at Martinsville to advance in 2022.
“It’s definitely putting us in an interesting position,” Bell said, “because one thing that my team does really well is just focus on ourselves and doing the best that we can for ourselves that day.
“But with the points situation, I think it makes a little bit of sense to kind of see what the competition’s doing. Myself, William (Byron) and (Kyle) Larson, we’re in a points battle amongst the three of us, and the thing that’s playing against that is I’m sure William and Larson are going to be racing for the win, and that means we’re going to have to be racing for the win as well.
“But if the yellow flags kind of make the strategy wonky, maybe it’s a situation where we just do whatever they do and just try to stay on the same strategy as them and either lose together or win together. What you don’t want to happen is be on the losing side of it when they’re on the winning side of it and give up a bunch of points.”
Bell enters the race 29 points above the current elimination line. He’s 22 points ahead of Byron and 29 ahead of Larson.
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