Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Texas Motor Speedway – April 6, 2018
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media at Texas Motor Speedway:
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 GameStop / Hello Neighbor Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Talk about going into this weekend’s race with Dash 4 Cash returning with qualifying this week?
“Yeah for me, not as aggressive as I went into California because we can’t afford that mistake going into Bristol next week. We need to be in those top four positions. It’s a shame that we went into the break after me making a mistake like that because we had a really good run of strong finishes going through Atlanta through Phoenix. Just looking forward to rebounding on that and hopefully be coming in the top four Xfinity regulars.”
It’s a home track for you with GameStop. Does that add pressure that your sponsor is in the backyard of Texas Motor Speedway?
“A little bit. I mean there’s already pressure just driving for Joe Gibbs Racing because you’re supposed to win when you drive for them and especially when you’re driving for a company like GameStop who has won a bunch of races. They’ve had a lot of great drivers driver their race cars. I think Erik (Jones) won both home races last year, so it would be a great place for us to win our first race this year. There’s – nobody can put any more pressure on myself than what I do.”
Do you feel more support from GameStop after having visited them before the race weekend?
“Yeah, it’s cool. I got to go to GameStop last November whenever this deal kind of got finalized and I got to meet everybody and everyone was excited to have me, so that was really cool. I just need to run good for them.”
What went so wrong for you in Fontana?
“Well, it started out really good. Every time we unload at a race track, we have really really good speed. And then I don’t know if these guys catch up on us or what, but like practice I can always be up there – qualifying, obviously qualifying has been going great and then you know they drop the green flag and I’m just kind of struggling. We made the car better and better throughout the course of the race and then ultimately what finished us off was my mistake spinning out. If I don’t spin out, then I think we’d have another possible top five day, which would have been good momentum leading into the break. Instead, we had a 20th-place finish and no momentum.”
With your home state of Oklahoma being so close to Texas, will you have much family here to watch you at the race?
“Over the last two weeks I got to race in Oklahoma. Got to do a midget race in Oklahoma, so all my family got to come to that. That was really cool to have them all out there. As far as family, I don’t know if I’m going to have too many people. I know my mom and dad are definitely coming, which is good you know that I don’t have my entire family coming because I’m going to have a bunch of sponsors around with GameStop being right here in Dallas. Definitely have a lot of sponsors, not as much family.”
