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NASCAR insiders suggest Christopher Bell could be massive help to Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe in championship race

Meby: Nick Geddes17 hours agoNickGeddesNews
Christopher Bell
Greg Atkins-Imagn Images

Christopher Bell won’t be racing for a NASCAR Cup Series championship this Sunday at Phoenix Raceway. However, he can still be a “great resource” to his teammates, Jeff Gluck of The Athletic said.

The championship race will be a battle of Joe Gibbs Racing versus Hendrick Motorsports — Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe versus William Byron and Kyle Larson. Bell has won two of the last three races at Phoenix dating back to spring 2024. If Hamlin or Byron need any pointers, they know exactly who to turn to.

“This is a great resource if you’re JGR,” Gluck said on The Teardown podcast. “Bell is gonna be solely focused this week in the meetings on what information can I give you guys to make sure you go win this championship. I’m out of it, [what can I do for you]. He has been terrific there in the past couple spring races, so that could be a real help.”

Christopher Bell just fell short of Championship 4

Of course, Bell would have liked to have been competing alongside his JGR teammates for a championship. For the second consecutive year, his postseason came to an end with the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway. Bell lost the points battle with Larson for the fourth and final spot in the Championship 4, despite having an average finish of 6.0 in the Round of 8.

With Bell out of the championship picture, it’s up to Hamlin or Briscoe to capture JGR’s first Cup championship since 2019. Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic further explained how Bell can help.

“Let’s keep in mind, Phoenix has an extended track practice session. This is more of a traditional practice, if you will, so you can make bigger changes,” Bianchi said. “So, you can have Bell go out there on a setup and say we’re gonna do this. And then we’re gonna have our other two guys do this and then we go from there, we’re gonna sit down and figure out the best strategy. You can just do a lot of different things because of how this is structured in terms of practice and everything.”