A rather minor and incidental moment might come back to bite Christopher Bell if he doesn’t play his cards right in Las Vegas. At the NASCAR Roval, Bell got into the back of Daniel Suárez and spun him out. It wasn’t purposeful, but it sank the 99’s day overall.
Christopher Bell isn’t sure if that moment with Suárez at the Roval will come back. Drivers are particular about dishing out payback. Not only that, but this year in particular, NASCAR has been rather heavy-handed with fining drivers for on-track incidents.
So, is it worth it to Suárez to mess with a playoff driver? Will he hold onto the grudge until next season? Bell isn’t sure, but he tried to make amends and avoid any such situation in the future.
“Certainly, I didn’t mean to get into him [Suárez], and you know, he and I have had run-ins in the past, so that’s the last guy I wanted to get into and have a problem with moving forward,” Bell said during a virtual teleconference with the media on Wednesday, via NASCAR. “I reached out to him and told him that it wasn’t intentional, but I’m sure he’s going to be coming after me, which is not ideal going into the next four races, but it’s a mistake, and I’ll have to keep that in the back of my head moving forward.”
Entering the NASCAR Round of 8, Christopher Bell is going to be looking over his shoulder.
Christopher Bell will give Suárez plenty of room on track
There is one way to avoid retribution from another driver, avoid them. That might just be Bell’s best chance at getting through the Round of 8 without feeling some kind of payback from the Trackhouse Racing driver.
Then again, I just don’t see Suárez doing anything about this. The two drivers have had run-ins in the past. Really, not enough to warrant “payback” especially in the middle of a championship hunt.
“I think it really just depends on where we’re at on track. If we’re not around each other, then it’s something that is pretty easy to put away, but I just have to be smart whenever it comes time to whenever I’m around him,” Bell said. “Certainly give him as much room as possible, and it is what it is. It was not a smart move on my behalf to … It wasn’t like that was a move I was trying to do, but I should’ve been more mindful of the position I was in and where we were at in that race. Not ideal, I’ll just have to pay attention moving forward and do the best I can.”
So, we’ll see if Daniel Suárez decides to