Toyota GAZOO Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (March 29, 2025) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Saturday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
It is Bell’s first pole of the season, first pole at Martinsville Speedway and 14th pole of his career.
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DEWALT Outdoors Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Why were you pessimist about your pole chances going into qualifying?
“Just from the qualifying order, I felt like I didn’t go out late enough to have a shot at it. They told me that the 54 (Ty Gibbs) is quick time and he ran an .81, maybe, and then when I saw a .71 pop up on my dash, I’m like, that’s a pretty good lap, but I definitely expected the track to definitively improve. I thought I was just catching it on the front side of starting to improve. I didn’t want to say I was optimistic, but whenever I saw the 9 (Chase Elliott) go out and I was able to beat the 9, I was like, we are going to qualify better than I expected. As soon as I ran that lap, I knew I was top of the board, but I was expecting to be outside the top-10, maybe eighth to 12th-range.”
How do you explain the start to the season for your team?
“I think it just goes to show that whenever we do it right, we are certainly as capable as anyone. I think there is upwards of five teams that can say the same thing. You look at Ryan Blaney – he’s been incredible, really every race this year he has been incredible and really has nothing to show for it. As some point, they are going to start getting a little bit of luck fall their way, and they are going to be winning races too. I was really mad at myself last week at Homestead because it was an off race for us, but we’ve reached the point in our team maturity, if we just do everything right and we race and execute on the level that we are capable of, we are certainly capable of turning a bad day into a top-15, top-10 finish. I didn’t do that. I spun out and took ourselves out of it early on in the race, which is a bummer. I think it just proving that if we do what we are supposed to do, we are going to be up front.”
Did the tires react similarly to what they did in the fall?
“Mine did. I would say it would look similar. And yes, I’m still hoping for rain.”
Does what happened last fall come to mind when you are back here and you being on the pole after going out so early give you optimism going into tomorrow?
“I will never forget last year’s race, for sure. Definitely going out early, I don’t know, I think our race potential has definitely got better since we qualified up front. After practice, I was really struggling with the handling of my car. I didn’t feel like – I just didn’t know how the day was going to go, but after qualifying first, I think it really helps our chances tomorrow. I’ve always said, if you have a great car and you are great on any given day, it doesn’t matter where you qualify, but it is the day where you are not great – you are just another guy out there, it does really matter where you qualify. Having the track position, starting up front, it will certainly help our race in the beginning.”
How much of an advantage is starting from the pole at Martinsville?
“Well, I’ve never done it, so I can’t give you a great answer on that (laughter). I will say – it is just a war when you get into those teens and twenties. Martinsville is a place where the runs are extremely long, and maybe not by the clock, because the laps go by quick, but you look at – this is the short race, and we still have 80 laps before they pay stage points, and you are not going to pit in that time frame, so at like Homestead, or Vegas – it is an 80 lap stage, but you are pitting so you are only running 40 laps on tires, where here, that first stage will be 80 laps that we have to go on tires, so it is an extremely long run, so what that does – it really rewards the ability to save your tires and not push your car as hard – really the whole run, but especially at the beginning of the run, where if you qualify in the teens and twenties – which I have done a lot in my Martinsville career – you are just in a dog fight for every position because you run the threat of going a lap down at the end of a run, and everyone is just scratching and clawing to out brake everybody, and you penalize the tires at the beginning of the run. I think those first five to 10 qualifiers, are just content and know that they are going to go 80 laps on tires, and they are like we are going to sort it out, get in lines – I think it pays dividends at the end of those runs.”
What is the art of driving in the rain on an oval?
“You are just sliding around. I think the guys that can control the slide the best and maximize the grip level of the tires and find the grip in the race track – those are the successful guys. We haven’t done it a lot, but the few times we’ve done it, I’ve loved it and it has been a ton of fun to do.”
Does your background on dirt help you in damp conditions?
“I think my dirt background has helped give me the skill set that I’m looking around for grip and improvising, and specifically on the damp conditions, which is what we run in, and then in the NASCAR Cup Series, the track is ever changing as it dries out the line is changing, and you have to find different stuff. You have to be able to look around and find those different lines is what dirt track racing – is a skill set that it gives you. I think just moving around and finding the different lines and being unorthodox about it. We saw that at Loudon whenever it rained.”
What is it like to control a slide in a stock car in the wet?
“Well, it becomes a lot easier in these Next Gen cars. I don’t know that I’ve run the old-style cars and the old tires and wheels, but the Next Gen – the cars have become – the grip level has become so peaky on the ovals. You can’t really drift these cars like you could the previous generation cars. Whenever it starts raining that peaky, grip level goes away and you are able to just get over that grip level and slide the car and not spin out. I guess it is just the rain tire and the overall grip level being down, but it is a lot of fun and it is refreshing to be able to slide the car around and not spin out and crash.”
Do you have any additional confidence being the guy who won the last race that was in the rain?
“Well, I would if I didn’t just hear that there is only a 20 percent chance (laughter). But yeah, every time it has rained, we have been super competitive and driven right to the front, so I do certainly have a lot of confidence when it comes to the wet weather procedures.”
What does it say about Kyle Busch racing on dirt at this stage in his career?
“I respect the hell out of him for doing it. I love it. I’m going to dog on him a little bit, but whenever I went to KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) back in 2014, 2015 – we were talking about dirt racing, and he was kind of scoffing at me, like come on, dirt racing is nothing, its nothing, so now it makes my heart happy to see how invested he is in it. I think it does provide a great skill set to be a world class race car driver, and clearly, he feels the same way and has got Brexton (Busch) invested in it. It has been a ton of fun watching Brexton grow through his young life. I think he has – sky is the limit – to be a world class race car driver.”
Have your goals changed with the success you have seen early in the season?
“Certianly, winning the pole here at Martinsville – I would say that has far exceed our goals for qualifying at this place. It has been a very, very tough – tough history of me qualifying here at Martinsville. We have not even – I don’t think we’ve ever qualified in the top-five here. I’ve wanted to win a pole at a road course for a long time. Haven’t done that – but have been really close, but Martinsville, I wouldn’t have even said that winning a pole at Martinsville is a goal, because we haven’t even sniffed it, so it is really refreshing to get one. I don’t know – I’m excited to see how the race unfolds, because I’ve never had the opportunity to start up front here. I think it could – and likely would – be a different feel for me, having track position at the start.”
What have you fought in your career at Martinsville?
“I don’t know. We’ve came here, I’m sure, with many, many different setups. I will never forget that 2022 season, which was the first Next Gen season, that Martinsville 1 was a struggle for the majority of JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) – I was actually one of the best JGR cars, but the rest of the team really struggled, and then we came back and there was a test in the middle of the summer, and we brought the same package, because we had a decent race and the teammates – well Denny (Hamlin) was here – and he had a different setup, and he was super, super fast and I was really slow at that test, and then coming back in the fall, we put in his set-up, and it was amazing. I was really competitive, and we performed well in the race. We were like, okay, box checked – and then from that moment on, the box became unchecked, and it has been a really, really big struggle for us to have good performances here. I wish I could tell you that it has been one thing, but I’ve struggled with everything. I’ve been really tight here, I’ve been really loose here. I can’t get in the corner; I can’t get out of the corner. It’s been a struggle for us, and it has seemed whenever we’ve done everything right – we are just barely squeaking out top-10s. I don’t know. I wouldn’t have said that I felt good after practice, but I feel a lot better after winning the pole.”
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