Interstate Batteries Driver Climbs to Sixth in Championship Standings After Strong Second-Place Drive Last Sunday at Phoenix
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (March 11, 2026) – The adage that you can’t keep a good man down is playing out in real time in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The man is Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Bell started the year a dismal 35th in points after a crash took him out of the season-opening Daytona 500. But in the three races since, the 31-year-old racer from Norman, Oklahoma, has leapfrogged nearly the entire field to sit sixth in the championship standings heading into the Pennzoil 400 Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
A strong runner-up result last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway was the catalyst of Bell’s rise, as he jumped 18 spots. The effort that propelled him in the standings portends to help him again this weekend at Las Vegas.
“Typically, your front-runners at Phoenix are your front-runners at Las Vegas,” Bell said. “The races at Daytona and Atlanta are drafting tracks, and COTA is a road course. Phoenix was our first true oval that kind of showed where everyone stood.”
Bell’s recent pick up is impressive, but not surprising. Like the tagline of the Interstate Batteries logo adorning his No. 20 machine, Bell is outrageously dependable, particularly at Phoenix and Las Vegas.
After his first Cup Series start at Phoenix in March 2020 resulted in a 24th-place finish, Bell has since become a master of its flat and fast layout, winning twice and leading 474 laps. His second-place performance last Sunday served as his fourth top-five in the last five races at the desert mile.
Las Vegas might be an even better track for Bell, but with the glaring omission of a victory. He has three poles and has finished among the top-three three times in the last five races at the 1.5-mile oval, all while leading 216 laps.
“Vegas is probably my best track on the schedule that I haven’t won at,” Bell said. “Between the Truck Series and the O’Reilly Series, I’ve led a ton of laps there. Even in the Cup Series I’ve led a lot of laps there, yet still haven’t won. So we’re looking for that first Vegas win, and my first with Interstate Batteries as my primary partner. They’ve been with Joe Gibbs Racing since the beginning, and there’s a lot of pride that comes with carrying their colors. Some great names have won in Interstate Batteries green, and I’d like to add my name to the list. Vegas is a really good racetrack for me, and I know it could come at any time.”
Las Vegas’ importance also looms large on the entirety of the Cup Series schedule. It’s considered an intermediate-style oval, the kind that serves as the bread-and-butter of the calendar, where ovals from 1.3 miles to 2 miles comprise 30 percent of the races.
“Vegas is a true barometer of the intermediates,” Bell said. “It’s kind of like the last style of track that we haven’t been to yet this season, so it’s super important to take the data from Vegas and understand what it takes to be better for the rest of the season. Intermediate stuff is a big part of our schedule, so you need to make the most of it.”
Making the most of the Las Vegas weekend also means taking in the sprint car action Thursday-Saturday night at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track where Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing kicks off its season.
Bell’s racing roots are in dirt, further amplifying the Interstate Batteries connection. Bell came to NASCAR via the rough-and-tumble world of winged sprint cars and USAC Midgets. He was the 2013 USAC National Midget champion and owns 29 USAC victories, along with six World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series wins. When the opportunity comes to revisit the sprint car ranks, Bell doesn’t hesitate.
“I’m not going to be a participant. I’ll be a spectator this time,” clarified Bell, who has sometimes run a mid-week sprint car race ahead of a NASCAR weekend.
“It’s great to see Interstate Batteries get involved with High Limit Racing. They have such a rich history in racing, and that brings a new level of professionalism to grassroots racing. I know they’re going to do a good job with it.”
Bell will drop in on the FloRacing booth during Saturday night’s broadcast. His insights during the race come from real-world experience.
“Sprint car racing is just so real and raw and true. You can’t fake it,” Bell said. “You’ve got to qualify well and you’ve got to race well. There are no pit stops. It’s just the driver and the car once it’s on the track. You still have a team. You have a crew chief and mechanics who work on the car, but it’s all really in your hands, and you can’t fake your way around a sprint car, that’s for sure.”
Before Bell jaunts over to the Dirt Track, he will climb behind the wheel of his No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota on Saturday and take to the big paved oval at 11:30 a.m. PDT/2:30 p.m. EDT for a one-hour practice before qualifying at 12:40 p.m. PDT/3:40 p.m. EDT. Prime Video and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide live coverage of both. Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 goes green at 1 p.m. PDT/4 p.m. EDT with live, flag-to-flag coverage delivered by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
About Joe Gibbs Racing:
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is one of the premier organizations in NASCAR with four NASCAR Cup Series teams, four NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series teams, an ARCA Menards Series team, and a driver development program. JGR is based in Huntersville, North Carolina, and owned by 2020 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Joe Gibbs, who also earned his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and was named as one of the NFL’s top-10 coaches of all-time with a winning career that included three Super Bowl Championships as head coach of the Washington franchise. JGR has competed in NASCAR since 1992, capturing more than 400 wins over that span. No team has more combined wins across the sport’s three national series in the history of NASCAR. In addition, JGR has won five Cup Series championships along with four O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver championships and seven O’Reilly Auto Parts Series owners’ championships. The organization also has captured four Daytona 500 titles, considered to be NASCAR’s premier event.
About Interstate Batteries:
For more than 70 years, Interstate Batteries® has powered people down roads, trails and waterways and businesses to succeed. Best known for its starting, lighting and ignition (SLI) batteries, this product has been under car hoods since 1952, each one backed by the company’s service, quality and value. Interstate All Battery Center® provides portable power in both retail and commercial markets. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Interstate Batteries is an industry leader in recycling efforts, as well as a global leader in safe lead handling practices. Guided by a set of common values, the company’s purpose is to glorify God and enrich lives while delivering the most trustworthy source of power to the world. For more information, visit www.InterstateBatteries.com.
