Toyota GAZOO Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
AUSTIN (March 1, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Circuit of the Americas.
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are there concerns for any potential trouble spots on this circuit?
“I don’t know. I think the trouble spots are always going to be turn 1 on the restarts. But with the new restart zone that they implemented it seemed like that helped that out a lot. As a racer I want it to be a little bit more straight forward and a little bit less trouble spots. We don’t know how 6B and 6A are going to race yet. I think that could be like – it kind of reminds me of that section at Chicago – maybe (turn) 5 where it’s really tight back through there and we saw a bunch of pile ups and the track can get blocked. So maybe that could happen. But turn 1, with it being the biggest brake zone I think that’s going to be the biggest area for issues. It seems like that got cleaned up a lot with the updated restart zone. I’m a fan of that and hopefully it allows more of the best cars to race for the win.”
Have you walked the track yet and what do you think about turn 6A?
“I have. It’s just awkward. It’s a very awkward corner with how you’re coming off of turn 6 the right hander in the esses. The whole car is like pushing you out track left and then you don’t really have a ton of visuals getting into (turn) 6A there expect now they have a big, old tire pack which is good because that gives us a reference of where the apex is. I don’t know. I think it is a pretty high intense braking zone, but the thing is your car is automatically trying to take you track left, so I don’t know how big of a passing zone it’s going to be. We’ll find out after the Xfinity race though. I’m excited for the challenge and trying to learn a new section of the track. I think it’s good to always shake it up.”
Did you do simulator work to get ready for the changes?
“There was. The simulator changed about 15 times since we started just because we didn’t know what the course was going to look like, what the visuals were. I had run plenty of laps there with nothing marking the track and you just kind of ran through the gravel, and then the last time that I ran through there in the simulator we had the tire pack in place. The hardest thing is just getting the site line. It’s weird because there’s no elevation change there but it’s a very blind corner. There’s not a lot to reference off of where your car is positioned on track. It’s going to take some acclimation for sure.”
What’s your confidence that you can get some more wins this season?
“I feel good about it. Honestly, the win last week doesn’t really change my outlook on the season just because I didn’t have that one planned on winning. I don’t think anybody on this 20 group expected to win a speedway race this year. It’s a goal and you want to try and obviously do it, but we didn’t have that one circled as a potential win. So, that’s good. We’re just starting the season out with what we expect to be good race tracks for us. Going into a really good stretch. Hopefully we are competitive and see where we stack up. Obviously, it would be amazing to win again early on in the season, but we don’t really know where we’re at. We’ll get a good feel of where we’re at this race and the next two and then re-evaluate and see what we need to improve on.”
Is the tire barrier as big of a threat as it looks like in turn 6A?
“I’m assuming you’re talking about 6A. That’s the last tire barrier that we have left. Yes, I went around there in the pace car yesterday. You’re coming off of turn 6 and whenever you leave turn 6, you’re basically center punching this tire barrier and so you have to awkwardly make the car want to get back right to get your angle right for 6A to get around the tire pack. I think the start of the Xfinity race is going to be exciting to see everyone try and navigate that corner for the first time. It’s going to become less and less of a talking point as the drivers get acclimated to it and get used to it. But certainly, those first couple restarts are going to be interesting to see how everybody defends and attacks. We’re going to learn a lot by watching the Xfinity race.”
Do you have any early insight on the Playoff committee you’re apart of and how are you hoping to contribute?
“Number one, I’m honored and privileged to be a part of that, and I think it’s really cool that NASCAR, and the industry respects me enough to have me be a part of it so that’s awesome. I’m grateful that I get to help out with that. The goal for the whole thing is to help bring more legitimacy to the championship. I think everybody has believed that the champions of the new age are held to – it feels different than like what Jimmie (Johnson) did and the guys back in the day. The whole goal is to make the drivers feel like that championship is a big deal, the biggest deal of our life. So, hopefully we can get a format that provides a lot of entertainment, a lot of excitement and some amazing finishes to the championship race while upping the legitimacy of the NASCAR Cup Series championship, and I’m assuming it would bleed down to the other series as well.”
About Toyota
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