Christopher Bell holds up a giant lobster while celebrating after winning the NASCAR Cup Series on July 17, 2022 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. Charles Krupa/Associated Press
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a demanding and uniquely configured short race track that requires a lengthy courtship of trial and error for drivers to get a handle on it.
There have been a few exceptions to that hard and fast rule of NASCAR Cup Series racing on the Magic Mile and nobody has adjusted to its quirky nuances better than Christopher Bell.
Bell drives the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing and on Sunday will defend his title in the Crayon 301 at NHMS.
“I love going up to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, it has been a really good race track for me in the past,” said Bell. “It is always nice break in the middle of the summer to get out of the (hot) weather and I’m excited to get up north.
“It’s been a great race track for me and the track is very unique in the fact that turns one and two are really smooth and three and four are very rough. It is very flat everywhere but has a little bit more banking when running up the track from two to three. It is (a) place that is like nowhere else in the country.”
Bell has enjoyed a short and happy relationship with the Magic Mile. The 28-year-old from Norman, Oklahoma, will be making his fourth Cup Series start in Loudon and his record is more than remarkable.
Bell made his Cup Series debut at NHMS on Aug. 2, 2020 and finished 28th under the banner of the Leavine Family Racing team. Bell’s fortunes took an upswing when he signed on with Joe Gibbs Racing the following season.
Bell finished second behind Aric Almirola in 2021 and took the checkered flag last year. Bell staged a late rally to capture his second Cup Series win and secured one of the 16 slots in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Bell passed then Cup Series leader Chase Elliott on the 262nd lap and cruised to victory.
Bell enjoyed unprecedented success at NHMS in the Xfinity Series, winning three races in three starts. He also won a Truck Series race in two starts. Bell brought instant gratification to an unseen level on the Magic Mile.
“I think a lot of it comes down to your car and the setup of your car and stuff like that,” said Bell. “I think (crew chief) Adam Stevens has really figured out what it takes for me to be successful there.
“Hopefully we are able to duplicate that and I guess we will find that out in a couple of days. I would say it is more about the car and getting the car to feel the way you need it to feel. We have 36 drivers in the Cup Series and all of them are capable of winning if they have the feel they need inside the car.
“Loudon has been a place where my crew chief has been able to give me the cars that I need to be successful and I don’t think it is anything more than that.”
ADAM’S RIB
Adam Stevens, 41, has been a fixture in the garages of Joe Gibbs Racing since 2010 and has been the overseer of some of the team’s top drivers. Stevens worked the Xfinity Series with Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth before moving up to the Cup Series when he was paired with Kyle Busch in 2015.
Stevens and Busch became one of the most successful crew chief/driver combinations in NASCAR history over a five-year stretch. They collaborated in 27 wins and captured the Cup Series championship in 2015 and 2019.
Stevens brought that level of expertise and a winning attitude when he joined forces with Bell in the No. 20. Stevens and Bell are an example of opposites attracting for a common cause.
“He just brings his expertise and he’s just a team leader,” said Bell. “I am a very much quiet and soft-spoken individual and Adam is a little bit on the other side of it.
“He does a great job leading our team and you see that across the different garages where sometimes the driver is the leader and sometimes the crew chief is the leader. For me, I really need the crew chief to be that team leader and Adam is able to that.
“On top of that he is really smart and he gives me fast cars. So, I think we have a good combo.”
NUMBERS GAME
Bell is fourth in the driver rankings with 591 points in 19 starts with one win, five finishes in the top five and 10 in the top 10. The lone win was at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 9 and it secured a slot in the upcoming Cup Series playoffs.
Bell followed the win at Bristol with a fourth at Richmond, two of the shortest tracks on the circuit. Bell’s early success on the short ovals bodes favorably for his visit to New Hampshire.
“It definitely appears that short tracks are good for us at the moment,” said Bell. “I would expect the JGR cars to be competitive at Loudon.
“But the field is tight and Kevin Harvick is always awesome at Loudon and Kyle Busch is always awesome at Loudon so I don’t think it is going to be a home run by any means. I would expect the field to be strong on this style of track.”
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