Playoff racing has turned into points racing according to young NASCAR star Christopher Bell. Bell, who has one career cup series win at Daytona road course earlier this year says he is looking forward to the first round of the playoffs most, but he has several tracks overall that he is excited for.
"I mean honestly the the first round here at Darlington, Richmond, and Bristol is going to be a really really good round for us. I think Richmond was a great racetrack and Darlington were both great race tracks for us early on in the year and Bristol is one of my favorites on the schedule so I think between that first round that's going to be one round that i really enjoy and then moving forward the Charlotte Roval is going to be another one that I look forward to. I mean I think the playoffs are littered with racetracks that could be great races for our organization."
Despite having successful teammates overall, Bell states he is leaning more on his crew chief for support and advice at this time in his career than the other drivers that are on his stable.
"I have relied a lot on my my crew chief Adam Stevens who's won this this championship twice now with Kyle Busch driving. Adam knows as well as any of them for sure.
Higher downforce is gonna be easier to manage according to Bell. "...Is going to be easier to to manage. The direction that we're heading is trying to get all of the bigger race tracks to race like Daytona and Talladega. I'll let whoever decide if Daytona or Talladega is luck or skill [because] that's the direction that we're heading.
When asked about his past opportunities in NASCAR's lower divisions' playoffs, Bell believed that this feels different because he is not necessarily a dominating force or a favourite. "Through the Xfinity and the truck series playoffs where I've been a part of in the past I've been on the favorite side of it or i've been able to accumulate bonus points at least through the regular season and be up on the on top of the leaderboard. This time around I'm at the very bottom with basically no points so instead of in the Xfinity series going into the playoffs with the mentality of just don't eliminate yourself now we have to be the aggressor and we have to be focused on doing well and winning points."
Christopher Bell enters the playoffs in 12th of the 16 drivers that qualified for the post season.