A strategic move following Stage 2’s conclusion during the Food City Dirt Race on April 9 might have initially gone unnoticed. That was, perhaps, by design for Christopher Bell.
After Tyler Reddick’s Stage 2 victory at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt, the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing driver decided to forgo a stop on pit road and instead opted to stay out with a handful of other drivers, including JGR teammate Denny Hamlin. Such a tactic proved to be the money maneuver for Bell as he led each of the final 100 laps en route to his first win of 2023 and his fifth overall in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“For me, it was (the winning call),” Bell said when talking about his strategic move. “We clearly were not the best car, but Adam (Stevens, crew chief) kept asking me what I needed, and I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know if you’re going to be able to help me enough on a pit stop adjustment to get me where I need to be.’ I just said, let’s stay out, and he believed in me and we were able to make it work.”
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Such late-race dominance was not mutually exclusive to only the Easter Sunday contest. If anything, the victory only cemented how much of a force the No. 20 has shown to be so far in 2023.
Starting with the basics, statistics-wise, could help illustrate how strong Bell has been through the opening portion of the season. Including his Bristol Dirt Race win, Bell has amassed six top-10 finishes through the year’s first eight races, with his only two non-top-10 finishes resulting from crashes (Auto Club Speedway, Circuit of The Americas). And to make matters even better, five of those six top-10 finishes have also been top-five finishes.
The early-season success stands out even more when comparing his marks up against his JGR teammates. Not only does a victory set a precedent — no other JGR driver holds a win so far this season — but his top-five finishes do, too, as none of Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. or Ty Gibbs hold even one top-five finish so far this season, combined. Bell’s 10.6 average finish and 154 laps led additionally lead the quartet, with Truex (13.0 average finish, 72 laps led), Hamlin (15.1, 112 laps led) and Gibbs (16.0 average finish, zero laps led) all trailing the 28-year-old Norman, Oklahoma native.
MORE: Watch Bell slide to victory in Bristol Dirt Race
Bell has made an early-season statement among the Cup Series field, too, with his six top-10 finishes tying the No. 20 JGR with the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of Alex Bowman for the most in the Cup Series. And just for good measure, Bell’s average finish and laps led totals currently rank second and fourth, respectively, in the entire full-time field, trailing the Hendrick Motorsports trio in Bowman (9.9 average finish), Kyle Larson (438 laps led) and William Byron (385 laps led), plus the reigning Cup Series champion in Joey Logano (181 laps led).
While the season is not even 25% complete, Bell’s 2023 success compared to his teammates and the rest of the field cannot be understated. And if last season’s postseason success — winning the Round of 12 and Round of 8 cutoff races at the Charlotte Roval and Martinsville Speedway, respectively, en route to a Championship 4 appearance — is any indicator, perhaps Bell’s clutch factor this year is making an early title case. After all, Bell fell just short of the crown last year — finishing the 2022 season in third — and perhaps there is fuel for even more motivation this season, too.
Whatever the case, a keen sense of strategy goes a long way, and for Bell, 2023 has been all by design to showcase it.