Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
POCONO, Penn. (July 21, 2023) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to media prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series event at the Pocono Raceway on Friday:
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Yahoo Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
What do you look from last year’s results to help with this season?
“Pocono is one of the tracks that the notes from last year should corollate pretty well, because it is the second time here with the same package. That’s always rewarding. The Toyota cars got a slight body change over the offseason, so we will just have to compare notes to what we did at the other intermediates, but the intermediates have been good for us, so it is definitely a track that we can definitely perform well at. It’s always one that I look forward going to.”
How do you view the battle for the regular season championship after last weekend’s results?
“It’s definitely getting further out of sight that is for sure, but now it is just a matter of getting all we can. Whether that be second, third – whatever the case may be. We’ve had a couple of really – not a couple, several really poor finishes in a row here. It would be nice to get to the checkered flag without an incident. I think our performance is certainly capable of competing for it, but the way the last few weeks have gone, I don’t know if that is realistic anymore.”
On the accident last week, was that on you or something else?
“I was just trying to get too much and a mental mistake that cost me a bunch of points.”
Is doing the short-track test at Richmond going to provide any other information than it would have provided at New Hampshire?
“That’s a good question. Me, personally, I probably don’t care, but I know a lot of guys pushed against Richmond with the tracks that NASCAR brought up. In our meeting, a lot of guys said that Richmond probably isn’t the place to do it because tire wear is so big and there is a pretty big difference between good cars on long runs, and not good cars on long runs. They were worried that the cars would get a little more separated at Richmond than they would at a place with low tire derogation like a place like Loudon. It is interesting that Richmond was first on the list, and the driver’s kind of deterred against it and now that is where we are going.”
Does your previous success and test here give you more pressure going into this weekend?
“I would say yes, but looking at the last couple of races, Loudon is probably one of my best tracks and we didn’t get a good finish there. Certainly, I think every race track that we go to, we are capable of running well, and generally, we have been running well in the race – just not finishing well. Pocono is at least a place that typically gets a little more spread out. Restarts are always hectic here, but if we can just – I say we, but the last couple weeks have been on me, not we, it’s been on me – if I can just execute restarts and get in position to have a solid finish where I don’t have to overdrive the car, I think we will be alright. I’ve done a really bad job behind the wheel the last couple of weeks at the end of the races on closing them out.”
How do you feel about the Playoffs?
“Certainly, the Playoff schedule is really good for us. I think all of the tracks – minus Talladega, and I think a lot of drivers would be scared of Talladega to, but all of the tracks are really good for us, and the performance has been extremely well, and the cars have been really fast, but execution has really lacked and that is something that really scares me going into the Playoffs. We’ve got a month and a half here, six races or so to get it cleaned up, but if the Playoffs would be starting tomorrow, I would be worried about it.”
Does running the Truck Series give you any benefit for the Cup Series race?
“Pocono is a unique track and one that we only go to once a year, so I would say it would be a little bit beneficial. The cars and trucks are now so entirely different, so there is not a bunch that you can take back and forth, but definitely getting track time is not going to be an hinderance for sure.”
What are the challenges that Shane Van Gisbergen going to face at Indianapolis that he didn’t face at Chicago?
“I would say just the fact that we have all been there – I say we as the Cup group – for a number of years now. Lap one of the race track we are going to know roughly where our brake markers are, what the grip level is going to be at the different turns, so he is going to have to play catch up a little bit on the track knowledge. I’m sure he is going to have a bunch of simulator time that will prepare him for the visuals of it. I would expect that, by the end of the weekend, for him to not really have a disadvantage, but I would think at the start of practice, he’s going to have to learn the track a little more than the regulars will.”
Why did Pocono end up on your Truck Series schedule?
“Honestly, none from my standpoint. Matt Lucas at HRE (Hattori Racing Enterprises) contacted me earlier on in the season about making a couple of starts, and I said yeah, if it works out and you are able to do it, I would. North Wilkesboro was one that they really wanted to do, and it was a good one for me too, because no one had track time there. After North Wilkesboro, he mentioned Pocono, so I would say it was more on the team than me.”
Is there anything from the Truck Series Tundra that helps in the Next Gen car?
“One thing that is going to be interesting is track treatment that has not been put on this year, but as we saw last week in Loudon, it is still there from years and years past. It is definitely an advantage to see if that stuff comes in during the Truck race, how grippy it is, how wide it is, and what that looks like. Truck to Cup car – nothing in the car is going to translate, but track time, track conditions – that stuff will.”
Can you talk about your experience with Hattori in the Truck Series at North Wilkesboro?
“Certainly, getting back in the truck was really enjoyable at a very historic track. I thought that it was a decent run. We qualified somewhere in the back half of the top-10, practiced around the same place, so it seemed like the fifth-to-10th range was kind of where we stacked up at North Wilkesboro. Hopefully, we are a little more competitive this week, and it is a place that I’ve won before, but Kyle Busch Motorsports has a hand on for a long time now, so we are going to have to be proper if we want to win this weekend for sure.”
What do you need to do to be successful at Pocono?
“Pocono is always the same challenges, no matter if you are here in Truck, Xfinity Car, Gen 6 Cup car or a Next Gen Cup car. The tunnel turn is really tough, and just the differences with turn one being really banked, turn three being really flat and then both of them leading to really long straightaways. It is a big compromise of trying to get your car to do what it needs to do for the driver to be comfortable. Last year, the JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) Camrys were really strong. I kind of found myself on the back half of the team with the 11 (Denny Hamlin) and the 18 (Kyle Busch) running really well, and I was a little bit behind them, but I think that, your car has to be really comfortable and stable at the speeds that you have here at Pocono, but it also has to turn really well, because if you are tight, you are not going to make any speed off of the corners. It’s a tough track that we generally see the guys who succeed here, they usually do well year-after-year and hopefully I can become one of those guys at some point.”
Do you view Pocono more as a road course or an oval from your perspective?
“Definitely the three corners being unique is nothing like any other oval that we have, but with the speeds being up, everyone classifies it as an intermediate. I think if you look at setup stuff, you are more looking at the mile-and-a-halves or a place like Michigan, Indianapolis oval – which we haven’t been yet in the Next Gen car – but those are the kind of tracks that relate more to Pocono than any road course, just because the speeds are down.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 24 electrified options.
