Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (July 1, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to media prior to the Road America race weekend earlier today:

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 SiriusXM Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How exciting is it for the NASCAR Cup Series to get to experience Road America?

“Yeah, I’m excited about it, and I just love going to new racetracks so being able to add a track to the Cup schedule, I think is really cool. Road America is a great venue. It’s always put on really good Xfinity races, so I’m expecting the Cup race to be great as well.”

How much have your Cup teammates asked you for advice and has there been a common ask between them?
“I think a lot of people are noticing how narrow the track, that’s for sure. It’s very unique in that aspect for stock cars, but you still have enough room to move around and race too. I think a lot of them have simulator laps and Kyle (Busch), I think came up here and tested as well. They are world class racecar drivers. They will figure it out. Honestly, they haven’t really reached out to me, but I’m sure they are going to be tough to beat whenever they get here.”

How similar are these TransAm cars to Cup? Do you think running the TransAm race can give you certain insights that your Xfinity experience at the track cannot?

“I think it’s just key to have the track time. I haven’t been to this track in a number of years now, so just being able to get on track more than just the one practice we have in Cup is beneficial. The cars are completely different than the Cup cars, but it’s still track time. You are still shifting gears, and the shift points relatively match up. It’s not like testing a Cup car, but it is helpful.”

What is the primary objective as we head to the Playoffs?

“We are just trying to get more consistent. Week-in and week-out, we are very, very inconsistent at the moment and we need to get to where we are competitive week-in and week-out. Over the last, it seems like, 10 to 12 races, it’s been really trying. At the beginning of the year, we started off really strong and had great cars week-in and week-out, so just trying to get more consistent and thankfully, I think the Playoff schedule is going to look pretty good for us. The tracks in the Playoffs, we’ve run well this year, so I’m looking forward to that, but it’s been really disappointing how inconsistent we’ve been and that’s our focus right now.”

What is your situation with Sprint Cars with Coach (Joe Gibbs)?

“I haven’t been able to race anything all year, so it looks like it’s starting to open up a little bit and I got to go do those two sprint car races in PA (Pennsylvania), but we will have to see what it looks like going forward. I don’t really know how to answer you, but yeah, I hope I get to do more in the future.”

Is there some more learning that you are still doing?

“You are always learning. I don’t think I’m where I need to be as a driver yet, but yeah, I think it’s a combination of me getting connected with Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and Adam understanding my feedback. We’ve had a couple good races over the last couple weeks. I know Texas and Nashville, where we didn’t start off very good and we actually improved the car and made the car better for the end of the race. That’s probably the two only times that we’ve done that this year, and Pocono too. From Pocono 1 to Pocono 2, we made our car tremendously better and got more competitive. That’s a good sign. Just hopefully, we can start hitting it a little bit better off the truck and being more competitive. At Nashville, we didn’t hit the setup off of the truck and fortunately, we had practice to learn that, but a number of these racetracks across the year – if you are bad off of the truck, then there is nothing to do. You can’t work on it or anything. It’s been tough, but hopefully, we can start being more consistent with that and being closer when you get off the truck because if you are close, you can dial it in. If you are in left field, then it’s a lost cause.”

Do you think the Cup car will react differently at Road America than the Xfinity Series car?

“I think it’s going to be very similar, especially the rules package that we have right now is really close to the Xfinity cars, so I think brake markers and stuff is going to be slightly different. I think we might have a little more horsepower in the Cup car versus the Xfinity car, so that’s going to change things a little bit, but I think the on-track product will be really similar and you know, we have a lot of really talented road course racers in the Cup Series, so there is going to be a lot of competitive cars and I think the on-track product will be similar to what we are used to seeing out of the Xfinity Series cars.”

What’s it going to be like to have only two more races after this one with practice for the rest of the season?

“Fortunately, we are starting to hit the second half of the season where we’ve been to places before. So, like Atlanta, we went there earlier in the year, so that will help, and it won’t be as big of a deal, hopefully, going back to the races for a second time because we’ve already been there once and especially for me, this is my first year working with Adam Stevens (crew chief) and being at Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing). Just him figuring out what I need in the racecar to be competitive and what my balance needs to be like and stuff like that. There have been a couple races where we have been really off, and we’ve been able to learn from that too and hopefully apply that going forward.”

We are about 11 months from the transition from Leavine Family Racing to Joe Gibbs Racing. What was the transition like and what was it liking working with guys for a team that would be shutting down?

“Yeah, that was very, very different, especially, with the team shutting down and all of the mechanics not knowing really what was going on and my crew chief announcement hadn’t been done yet, so I didn’t know if I was going to be driving with Jason (Ratcliff) again or someone else, so it was tough. The end of the line is right there. They know that after Phoenix that it’s over. I was really worried about the motivation of the mechanics and the team to see how they would continue on throughout the course of the season knowing that they are essentially getting fired or let go no matter what happens and what the outcome is, but I was really, really proud of everyone on that 95 car last year and if you look back at it, Texas, which I think was either the second or third race to the end, was probably our best race all year and then Martinsville at the end of the year, we had a good showing. We had really good racecars at the end of the year too. I was really proud of the group for keeping digging and not letting the end, so to speak, be part of their motivation.”

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