NASCAR insider: Christopher Bell won't make Championship 4

Christopher Bell has started off the season on a remarkably hot note. He won his third straight race at Phoenix on Sunday, matching the feat last accomplished by Kevin Harvick in 2018.

Still, some are not convinced that any of the short-term results mean much in the bigger picture. On The Teardown podcast, The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck made a bold prediction for the postseason.

“Here’s my outtake: He’s not going to make the final four,” Gluck said. “I mean everybody’s going to, after this, is going to be like, ‘Championship favorite.’

“This playoff format, Kyle Larson said it right, like, ‘Oh, I could win 10 races and not make it.’ This is, I think everybody is going to get so caught up in this is the year of Christopher Bell. And he is going to have a breakout year. He’s going to win many races, right? He’s already won as many races this season as his career high. He’s already tied his career high. I mean could we be talking about a 10-win season? I don’t think it’s out of the question.”

If anything, that tells you what Gluck thinks about the level of variance in the playoff format. It’s not necessarily race well all year and you’re set.

You have to be hot at the right time. Christopher Bell is right now. Will he be in September and October?

“This playoff format, remember, Talladega is in Round 3 this year,” Gluck said. “So he has one bad race, say in Round 3, and then he gets wrecked at Talladega, suddenly he’s out and everybody’s like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ You talk about a death knell for this playoff or something. If we have like a 10-race winner that doesn’t even make the final four coming on the heels of last year’s controversy…”

In any case, Gluck seems convinced that Christopher Bell maintaining a top level throughout the playoffs will be difficult. And more than anything, he seems apprehensive about what that might mean for fans if he’s right.

“That’s not what people want, so it’s going to really upset (them). I could see it happening,” Gluck said. “I’m almost resigned to it. I promised myself this year I’m not going to get caught up in championship favorites. I’m not going to get duped again. Because the whole year last year I was like Christopher Bell’s the championship favorite, then we get to Martinsville and he gets eliminated. What was the point? What was the point of this all year?”