Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Darlington Raceway – August 31, 2018
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media at Darlington Raceway:
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you and Justin Allgaier see each other as rivals getting closer to the championship?
“The biggest thing is whenever you get to Homestead, the guy that excels there in practice, that’s going to be your biggest rival and your biggest competitor. We go through these races during the playoffs and whenever it all comes down to it there’s going to be four guys that have no advantage over the other one whenever you get to Homestead. It’s whoever beats who. Those practice sessions will really – the practice sessions at Homestead will decide who your main competitor is going to be.”
What are your expectations with the racing package at Indianapolis Motor Speedway? It was the same package that the Xfinity Series used at Pocono Raceway and Michigan International Speedway earlier this year.
“I don’t know. I think we saw two totally different styles of races between Pocono and Michigan. Obviously Indy, we’ve already – these guys (Justin Allgaier) have already ran the aero package there, so Justin (Allgaier) can probably speak on it a little bit more. Pocono Turn 1 is – you had to lift quite a bit for Turn 1. You had to lift a little bit for Turn 3. I don’t really know how Indy is going to be, but I feel like it’s probably going to be somewhere in between what we saw at Pocono and Michigan.”
Were you mad at Justin Allgaier last weekend after the race at Road America?
“No, not really mad at Justin. It’s just a product of road racing. I definitely felt like I was a ping pong ball out there at times, but that’s alright. That’s road racing and we’re not road racing this week, thankfully.”