Christopher Bell is among the favorites to win the 2025 Cup Sequence championship. Driving the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, he has recorded three wins thus far and sits fourth on the factors desk. He spoke to veteran reporter Jeff Gluck just lately and revealed an fascinating element in regards to the journey he took to succeed in this place.
It was the day after Bell had simply received the 2013 USAC Nationwide Midget Sequence championship. He was a driver for Keith Kunz Motorsports on the time and was backed by Toyota. Because of the eye his title win introduced, Roush Racing approached him with a contract to race within the NASCAR Cup Sequence.
At barely 20 years outdated, the provide was intensely tempting. Toyota admitted that they couldn’t match the phrases that Roush Racing was providing him. Bell recounted to Gluck, “Once we introduced that supply to the Toyota driver group, they’re like, ‘Man, we will’t do that.’” Nonetheless, they countered with a promise that they’d combat tooth and nail to get him to the massive present as quickly as they may.
Bell defined, “So I ended up turning down that Roush contract, and I signed up for 15 Late Mannequin races, and so they promised me I might do the Eldora Truck race in 2015. That was a really arduous choice to show away a long-term deal from Roush to get to the Cup Sequence and follow Toyota, however clearly I’m tickled to loss of life with the way it turned out.”
The important thing man behind the choice was Pete Willoughby, a mentor of Bell at Keith Kunz Motorsports. He urged Bell to stay with Toyota, who had backed him from the beginning. Thankfully, it ended up being the precise recommendation and issues labored out higher than he ever might have imagined.
Bell’s path to the Cup Sequence
Toyota finally delivered on their promise, bringing him to the Cup Sequence in 2020. His rookie season was with Leavine Household Racing (LFR) and he secured two top-five and 7 top-10 finishes. Earlier than that, Christopher Bell spent two full-time seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing within the Xfinity Sequence, recording 15 victories throughout that point. Notably, in 2019, he earned eight wins, 20 top-five finishes, and 21 top-10 finishes.
Joe Gibbs mentioned through the driver’s return to his crew, “We’re excited to convey Christopher into our Cup Sequence program beginning in 2021. He clearly had great success within the Xfinity Sequence with us and we sit up for his return to JGR.” It’s been an extended journey since then, and Bell is now arguably the cornerstone of Gibbs’ present Cup lineup.
