Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
LAS VEGAS (October 14, 2023) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to media after winning the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday. This is Toyota’s sixth pole in seven NASCAR Cup Series Playoff races, and 499th pole overall (147 NCS, 179 NXS, 173 NCTS) for Toyota in NASCAR national series competition.
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Can you talk about all of the success you’ve had in qualifying this season and earning the 499th pole for Toyota?
“Yeah, setting up somebody to bring in 500. It is really cool. Qualifying has been so much fun, really since the introduce of the Next Gen car on the intermediate stuff, because it is right on the verge of holding your foot down and going wide open – it is right on the edge and that is what I live for.”
You have the most poles in the Next Gen era. Why do you think that is?
“I would say that it is more so my team giving me what I need in qualifying. We’ve done really well. Toyota came out with a different body at the start of 2023 and we kind of lost the handle on our qualifying balance at the beginning of the year, but then in June, July, that midseason, we were able to pick back up on it and we have been qualifying really well ever since. My engineers and crew chief do a great job of getting my balance close, and when my balance is close, I feel good to be able to drive the cars as hard as I can.”
Did you have any tire issues, and do you have confidence in the tires tomorrow?
“I have no idea. It is alarming whenever you see the 9 (Chase Elliott) car blow a tire, the 5 (Kyle Larson) have that issue that they showed on TV, but as far as I know our camp was all good. I was trusting them that we weren’t going to have any issues.”
With four Toyotas in the Round of 8, how much of an advantage is that for the manufacturer?
“I don’t think it really matters with the style of racing we’ve got coming up at Vegas, Miami and Martinsville, but William (Bryon) – I think Denny (Hamlin) and Martin (Truex) have good points – but William has a lot of points. It is going to be tough to get all four of them in the final four, but hopefully, we can do our best and get as many as we can in.”
With your experience with the Championship 4 last season, does that help you as you try to make it this season?
“I think everything in your career and your life will help you further on down the road. Certainly, making the final four – it will be a big help if I get back there. I know that from last year, my round of 8 didn’t go well because I wrecked out here and didn’t have a good Miami, but I was still able to win at Martinsville. That will be in the back of my head that it can be done all the way to the last minute. Even on the flip side, Denny Hamlin was in on points at Martinsville, all of the way to the last corner, so fortunately for me, it worked the other way where I was out, and then I was in, in the very end, but you are never safe until that checkered flag falls at Martinsville.”
Do you not worry about points now and just worry about the wins?
“The Round of 8 – if you are going to make the final four – you are going to have to be racing for wins and winning races. Taking your points there is kind of gone at this point. Tomorrow – we need to go out there and try to win the race, and if it ends in a win, then we are transferred. Then if it doesn’t end in a win, you are looking for a solid points day, no matter what. Running eighth to tenth – your good points days are not going to get you there. You are going to have to be competing for the win and having a great points day.”
Is that because that’s just the nature of the Round of 8?
“I’m sure William (Bryon), Martin (Truex) and Denny (Hamlin) – they may be looking at it differently than I am, because I am below the cutline. It is a small gap between all of us, it is really up for grabs. After tomorrow, we will understand the picture a little bit more – if we have a Round of 8 winner, if we don’t have a Round of 8 winner, how many points the other guys scored, it changes, year-to-year, round-to-round. Some rounds – if everybody scores really good points, then you have to win if you start below the cutline, but if guys don’t score points, it is completely different. You learn more every race you go by.”
What would it mean to get the 500th pole for Toyota?
“It would be cool. I’m glad we are qualifying well, but I want to be up here starting on Sundays instead of Saturdays. It would be awesome. Qualifying well is a help every single week, but it is not a guarantee. I want to come in here on Sundays.”
What are your thoughts going into the final races; are you a favorite?
“Well, I definitely know I’m not the fan favorite (laughter). Honestly, we are not a favorite in any category right no, because we haven’t been running well enough to do it, but I know we are capable of performing like a favorite if we put it all together. We are close. We hit on it at times, and other times we are not close. We’ve got three races here, and fortunately, we are in the round – I’m excited to give it my all. I understand that we are not the favorite, and I know that we are capable of doing it and performing like we need to, to be a champion if it all comes together.”
How do you look tomorrow with different weather conditions?
“It looks as good as anybody. Certainly, the track conditions are going to be a lot different. It was crazy with the eclipse; how much colder it made it and the track was super-fast today because of the colder temperatures. It is going to be slicker tomorrow, which I’m okay with, and hopefully it will put more rubber down – the track will widen out. This is a place if you are faster than the guys in front of you – you can typically pass them, because you can move around, you can run the top, you can run the bottom, you can create momentum on guys, and the same thing can be said if you are bad, you can’t hold them off if they are faster than you.”
Is there a thought about not making mistakes in this round?
“If you make a mistake, you are pretty much done. It is what it is at that point, but you are going to have to put it all on the line and go for the win. If you go for a win, and you crash out, then your Playoffs is pretty much over, but if you don’t go for the win and you run 10th, your Playoffs is pretty much over too. You are going to have to be competing for wins and not worry about that.”
Do you think it will be tough to pass tomorrow?
“The Spring Vegas race was completely different than we have seen compared to the last couple of races here with this car. The Spring race was different, and I think that was due because of the colder ambient temperatures and no sun.”
Does anything translate from here to Miami next weekend?
“The only thing that is the same between Vegas and Homestead is the track length. Vegas has a ton of grip, probably the highest level of grip of any track that we go to. Homestead is the lowest grip intermediate that we go to. I don’t think anything will translate from this week to next week.”
Will you increase your belief as the favorite if you win tomorrow?
“I say that I’m not the favorite, but that is just the general population or whatever. I know that if we do our jobs, do what we are capable of, there is no reason that the 20 car can’t be a champion. Win tomorrow and win at Phoenix and win at Miami and Martinsville too. I know we have everything that we need to go out there and do it. It is just a matter of putting it together. I do think we are capable of winning tomorrow, and I think we are capable of winning every race between now and Phoenix.”
Have you and Daniel Suarez been able to talk yet and how important is it to not make enemies these next few races?
“You definitely want to try and have as many guys race you clean that you can. I made a mistake last week in Charlotte. I got into Daniel (Suarez) and unfortunately, ruined his race. I reached out to him and apologized, and I told him that it wasn’t my intentions to wreck him. I’m sure that he is upset. He has a right to be upset. It is what it is.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM), creator of the Prius hybrid and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota and Lexus brands, and directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America (more than 49,000 in the U.S.).
Over the past 65 years, Toyota has assembled nearly 45 million cars and trucks in North America at the company’s 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, the company’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.
Through our more than 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.), Toyota sold more than 2.4 million cars and trucks (more than 2.1 million in the U.S.) in 2022, of which, nearly one quarter were electrified vehicles (full battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell).
