Twice last fall, Bell won in “must-win” scenarios to advance in the Cup Series playoffs and reach the Championship 4 for the first time in his relatively young career.
The goal for Bell and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team was to hopefully build up a stash of playoff points this year to make his advancement through the playoff rounds a little easier.
So far, so good for Bell, who added his first win of the season on Sunday at the Bristol Dirt Track to what has already been an impressive start to the year.
Entering this weekend’s race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway – where he won last fall – Bell is now the series points leader, holding a 13-point advantage over Ross Chastain.
“Last year through the playoffs, it was a really big eye opener of playoff points, how important they are,” Bell, 28, said. “Frankly, we didn’t have very many of them last year. The only thing that pays playoff points is race wins and stage wins.
“Thankfully, we have five in the bank now (for the win) and we need to get some more.”
Race winner Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry
Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images
Bell’s crew chief, Adam Stevens, said he would prefer not to have to worry about the pressure of needing wins in the playoffs as the only way to advance.
“We were fortunate last year when our backs were up against the wall to be able to transfer. But you can’t rely on that. That’s tough,” he said. “It took some situations and a little bit of a luck for that to happen.
“If you have a big old stockpile of bonus points, you get in that spot, maybe it’s not as foreboding as it was. Hopefully, we don’t put ourselves in that spot. To do that, we need to capitalize on our strengths and we need to minimize our weaknesses.”
This is a particularly good run of races for Bell.
The three-time Chili Bowl champion had his extensive dirt racing experience to rely for the dirt race at Bristol, which aided him well on Sunday.
Bell and his JGR teammates have run well at the short tracks and he led 26 laps and finished fourth at Richmond, Va., two weeks ago.
Now, Bell heads to Martinsville, where he is the track’s most recent Cup Series winner and a prime opportunity to add to his playoff points haul.
“I feel good about going back to Martinsville. It’s going to be certainly different with the low downforce package. But it’s different for everybody,” he said.
“I feel like we were the best car there in the fall, so hopefully we can do our homework and make sure to study the differences between Richmond and Phoenix with the low downforce package and what we expect at Martinsville.”
Stevens is confident his driver will deliver if he’s given a car that can contend.
“If we’re capable as a team to give him the balance he needs, with the equipment that we’re producing at Joe Gibbs Racing, he’ll take us through the front, and he’s proven that,” Stevens said.
“He’s probably proven it a couple more times on the short tracks, but it’s probably our deficit that you’re seeing and not his deficit. He’s that good. I would expect to be winning at any track we go to.”