NASCAR insiders, Austin Cindric react to uncharacteristic Christopher Bell explosion at Gateway

Two NASCAR insiders and Austin Cindric had some interesting thoughts on Christopher Bell‘s rant during the race at Gateway on Sunday. On the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, Cindric, and Freddie Kraft, the spotter for Bubba Wallace, weighed in on Bell sounding off on the radio after finishing seventh.

“Basically, his beef was why did we not pit ahead of everybody, or at least stay on top of it, and then we would have been able to get out there and jump people on the track position,” Bianchi said. “For me, what this is, it’s indicative of what happened a year ago at Las Vegas. This team lost a race at Las Vegas they should have won, and that was because of pit strategy. They stayed out a little too long and allowed the 22 (Joey Logano) to get ahead and they couldn’t run them down. They lost that race and it really put them out of the Championship 4.

“This is a driver who realizes, having been through this what the importance of every point and every win matters. When you have an opportunity to win a race, and you don’t, there’s frustration that builds.”

Kraft said what Bell did wasn’t normal for him. “He’s not a guy that you get a lot of those sound bites out of,” he said. I think Adam [Stevens] is one of the best crew chiefs in the garage. It just seemed to me like it kind of came out of left field. …He was one of the new guys that was able to pass pretty much throughout the day.”

Christopher Bell is hungry for more wins

Kraft then asked Cindric if he would go on a rant like Bell did on Sunday. “Every driver, every team relationship is going to be different,” Cindric said. “I don’t know Adam and Chris’s relationship. I don”t know how they talk together in meetings or how that’s taken. …I’ve never been a person to go after my own guys because I don’t find it overly productive.”

Christopher Bell won three consecutive races this year, but those three wins came after the Daytona 500. he has had his share of top-10 and top-five finishes throughout the season, but he wants to win now.

Bell has just missed winning the title in the last three seasons. The 30-year-old finished third in the standings in 2022, fourth in 2023 and fifth last year.