Here’s the thing about racing: one bad afternoon can completely redraw the map. Christopher Bell arrived at Talladega Superspeedway sitting just five points behind Larson, climbing into his No. 20 Toyota with a genuine shot at chasing down a NASCAR Cup Series championship. That optimism didn't last. A pit-road miscue early in the race dropped him a half dozen laps down, turning his afternoon into a desperate fight to catch up while Larson pulled off an amazing overtime victory, passing 11 cars on the final lap for his first-ever superspeedway win. Bell crossed the finish line in 35th place.
Now, heading into Sunday’s penultimate Chase presented by Mobil 1 race at Martinsville Speedway, the deficit has ballooned to 74 points. That is a massive hill to climb, but the Joe Gibbs Racing team has somehow managed to spin that heartbreak into pure, uncomplicated motivation for the final two-race run of the season.
It’s just a matter of going out there and throwing Hail Marys. We’re to that point now, so that’s what we are going to do.
“Last week was a trying moment for our team,” Bell admitted Saturday at Martinsville, speaking with real pride about how his crew responded to the chaos. It would have been remarkably easy for fingers to start pointing after such a disaster, yet nobody cracked under the pressure.
That resilience brought a complete mindset shift to the garage. With the gap where it currently sits, the math dictates a very specific path forward. Bell knows the reality of the situation: the only way through is to go out and win two stages and a race, then repeat that exact feat to go to Homestead and win two stages and a race. There is no points-racing left to do, which means the psychological burden has entirely vanished.
“In reality, we have nothing to lose, so now the pressure is off,” Bell said. “It’s just a matter of going out there and throwing Hail Marys. We’re to that point now, so that’s what we are going to do.”
History suggests he shouldn't be counted out entirely on these specific tracks. Bell previously won the 2022 Martinsville fall race, took runner-up honors in the 2025 spring race, and secured seventh-place finishes in his last two outings at the venue. Beyond this weekend, he is also a former winner from 2023 at the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he has recorded four top-11 finishes in six starts ahead of the season finale next week.
Nascar Cup Series
