Nashville Turning Point: No surprise Bell is ringing out; plus, is a win the only remaining path to the playoffs?

Here’s what’s happening in the world of NASCAR with New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the rearview and Nashville Superspeedway (Sun., 3:30 p.m. ET, NBC) right around the corner.

THE LINEUP ️

1️⃣ Imagine that -- Christopher Bell back in title-favorite picture 2️⃣ Not in the provisional playoff field yet? You might need to win 3️⃣ Chase Briscoe's pathway to Joe Gibbs Racing, Coach's courting 4️⃣ Drivers to beat this weekend -- on the surface 5️⃣ Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage [caption id="attachment_436501" align="aligncenter" width="1300"]Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images[/caption] 1. Imagine that -- Christopher Bell back in title-favorite picture Christopher Bell just grabbed the New Hampshire weekend by its claws and inserted himself full throttle into the championship favorites tier.  Sorry to spoil the surprise, but Christopher Bell might just be your 2024 championship favorite. For those who watched 'NASCAR: Full Speed' on Netflix (and if you haven't, what are you waiting for?), you'll know that the reserved No. 20 driver tends to get a little slept on in favor of the more boisterous personalities among NASCAR's perennial contenders. Of every driver in the NASCAR Cup Series at the moment, however, there's but one who can boast (though he wouldn't) back-to-back Championship 4 appearances the past two years -- and he just won his third race of 2024, a mere 18 weeks into the season. At the more micro level, Bell also has the longest current top-10 streak in 2024 with five straight finishes of ninth or better -- two of which were wins -- with the next closest driver having just two consecutive top 10s. For whatever reason, the No. 20 driver often is not brought up immediately as a championship favorite in preseason conversations as the winter chatter of late generally centers around drivers like Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney. Even Bell's teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., who combine for 38 full-time seasons to his five -- collectively have just one more Cup title than the Oklahoma native. When Bell won the Coca-Cola 600 -- one of NASCAR's most revered races -- for the first time last month, even that got overshadowed by the rain-shortened nature of the victory and Larson's frustrating day attempting the Indy/Charlotte double and subsequent waiver drama. After the weekend we just saw, where he was the center of attention at the "Magic Mile" for literally three days straight, this feels like the moment he's emerged as one of the sport's true megastars. (Not to mention, he makes a pretty decent press conference moderator.) Bell's development into a lethal Cup Series contender capable of scraping together double-digit wins in a season hasn't come as a surprise to one person who's been behind him every step of the way since his 2017 Xfinity Series debut for the team -- Coach Joe Gibbs. "I just think Christopher ... he's gifted, and the further he goes, we all just really appreciate it. I think he's a real talented, young guy," Gibbs said after Bell put on a show to win the New Hampshire race on wet-weather tires. "To be truthful, with him not in (the media center), I'll tell you, he's the All-American guy. Sponsors love him. He's just a kid that everybody loves. So it's great to see him, too, get the success that I think he deserves. He's worked hard. He came in (to the Cup Series) during COVID. He got in cars without making a lap that first year and went through all of that. So I really appreciate that. " ... I think he's gaining confidence as he goes. It's great to see a young guy like that, that really and truly deserves it. So it's a thrill for us to be a part of it, and I joked with people. I said, 'We can ride him for 20 years.' " Twenty-year talents at one premier organization -- that's rare. That's Hamlin, Jeff Gordon territory right there. And it truly doesn't feel out of place for Gibbs to set that high of a bar for Bell -- it feels quite evident JGR's long-term foundation has been mostly set, with Bell, Ty Gibbs and newcomer Chase Briscoe continuing to sharpen under the veteran Hamlin's tutelage until he's ready to pass the baton to whoever winds up being the final piece of the puzzle for the Toyota-backed organization's next decade-plus. And down the line when the 43-year-old Hamlin does eventually exit the building, it's obvious whose name will ring out as the team's new de facto leader.