“It’ll be same for everybody”: Christopher Bell sees Talladega as survival test for a chance at Championship 4 race 

Christopher Bell weathered chaos to build a 20-point cushion above the elimination line and is hoping to survive more of it heading into Talladega. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is coming off a DNF at the 2.66-mile oval from earlier this season.

Bell, who finished third after escaping two dramatic wrecks at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last Sunday, sat down for an interview and commented on his chances at the upcoming Round of 8 playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway. He knows the Alabama superspeedway will test every driver's luck and skill on the road to the Championship 4.

"Talladega is gonna be really tough. We just gotta survive it. It'll be the same for everybody, and it's gonna be interesting," Christoper Bell said.

Bell's Talladega record is a mixed bag. He has posted three top-10 finishes in 11 Cup Series starts there, but he has also been a victim of wrecks and bad breaks. During the Talladega spring race, the No. 20 Toyota driver led the field late but crashed hard after a bump from teammate Denny Hamlin sent him spinning into the inside wall.

That incident ended his day and left him 35th in the final results. However, Bell has a bit of a safety net; he moved to third in the playoff standings at Vegas after collecting about 40 points. Late in the race, he avoided two major chases. William Byron and Ty Dillon collided ahead of him and blocked much of the track, but he squeezed through the wreckage nearly unscathed.

A little later, a restart triggered a multi-car crash across, and again Bell managed to avoid it and hold his position.

'Déjà vu as last year' for Christopher Bell at Las Vegas

Christopher Bell was reminded of his last playoff race at Las Vegas after his results this season looked painfully similar to his second-place finish behind Joey Logano in 2024. He had a car fast enough to win on the 1.5-mile oval but fell short.

"Kind of déjà vu as last year. ... Obviously got going pretty good there the second half of the race. I felt like at the second half, I had what I needed to go out there and win. I just didn't do a good job on the restarts, didn't get through there. We didn't get a Rheem win this year, but we came really close," Christopher Bell said, via NBC Sports. "Feels a lot like last year. Hopefully we can execute the next two a little bit better than last year," he added.

Bell has one win at the Round of 8 finale in short track. He beat pole winner Kyle Larson by 0.869 seconds and punched his ticket into the Championship 4 in 2022.

Christopher Bell's title hopes fell apart at Martinsville in a controversial finish last season. He was eliminated from the playoffs after a wall-ride attempt similar to Ross Chastain's 2022 "Hail Melon" move.

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Edited by Hitesh Nigam