TOYOTA RACING – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (September 2, 2026) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to the media on Wednesday as part of NASCAR Chase Media Day at the Charlotte Convention Center.
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Can you win a championship without winning a race?
“Can we do this? Can we win a championship? Yes. Without winning, right? Can we win a championship without winning a race? No. That’s my answer. I don’t believe so. “
Does it feel like a tall task or does it feel like we can win on any given Sunday?
“Yeah, it feels it does not feel like it’s all task at all. I think I think we’re going to win. I think we’re gonna win.”
Do you feel like your strongest competition comes from within Joe Gibbs Racing?
“Yes. I believe that the champion will be a Toyota.”
Do you have the confidence to win a championship?
“I don’t know. I feel really good about where we’re at. I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that we’re gonna be the champion in 10 weeks, but I think that we’re certainly capable of it. I do believe that the champion will be a Toyota. And, I think the champion will come from the top six seeds. I am pretty confident in those statements. So, we’ll see if they turn out right or wrong. I am confident in those statements.”
When you look at the next 10 weeks are you confident in all of the races or are there certain races that you can capitalize on?
“Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve been kind of making a small joke that if I am going to be the champion, then I better have a points gap on the field going into Talladega, the final three. So, yeah, certainly our strength is the beginning of it. The first seven are all really good tracks for me. So, I think my best hope is that I have a points gap going into the final three.”
You’ve had a lot of second place finishes – what’s been your best second place finish and what’s been the worst?
“Worst one was Nashville for sure. That one. Or Charlotte. Nashville or Charlotte, those two definitely hurt the most — or Iowa. I don’t know. The list keeps on going. Best second place finish was probably Indy. Yeah, that was that was a great second place finish. I qualified bad, we ran bad all day. I shouldn’t say we ran bad. We improved all day, but certainly second was the best we were all day, so that was awesome. Indy was by far our best second place finish. And then, I don’t know, man. The worst one is hard. I would say Nashville probably or Phoenix. I completely forgot about Phoenix. Oh, my goodness. We’ve got a lot of bad ones. Phoenix, I had the race in control all the way until the yellow flag. That was too tough to answer.”
Where can you stand on the idea of luck and racing?
“I don’t know. I use the word luck a lot, but I don’t know that I believe in luck a lot. We’ve had a lot of unfortunate races. Looking at Texas, Todd Gilliland spun out and I got clipped whenever I went by. Was it bad luck? I don’t know. I mean, it certainly wasn’t good fortune, but me and Denny (Hamlin) were side by side, and he chose to hit the brakes hard, and he made it through, and I chose to not hit the brakes hard and I got clipped. I say luck a lot, but I don’t know that I truly believe in luck.”
Have you gotten better at letting that stuff kind of slide away as you’ve gotten to be more of a veteran in the sport?
“I think so. I would hope that my crew chief Adam (Stevens) would say the same thing. Adam, he’s been on me hard about that. He thought that was a really big detriment of mine early on in my career. It was just letting the bad days fester and translate into the next week. I feel like now I move on to the races pretty good.”
Have you looked at the old Chase format and how are you planning out these last 10 races?
“I don’t know. I would say that I’m just focused on week to week and ultimately, just gotta have a strong performance at Darlington if I’m going to be the champion. And then after Darlington, got to have a strong performance at Gateway, if I’m going to be the champion. And so, I’m looking at it much more week to week than as a whole of what races are grouped up together or what’s coming. Just taking a week by week.”
Did you look at it differently last year with the different format?
“Last year was a lot different, for sure. Last year, having the cutoff and only being focused, less about the cutoff and more about the reset. The previous format and system, it was just three races at a time. And if you had a bad race, it’s just like survive. Just gotta get above the cut line, Got to get above the cut line. Once you get above the cut line, okay, we’re in great shape now if you have a lot of bonus points or whatever. Where now, there are no freebies. You can’t have a bad race and get a reset in three weeks. So, you’re going to have to perform every week.”
Is there a lot more pressure on you for this type of format?
“100%. Absolutely. Yeah, I think this format is going to be way more pressure.”
How do you handle the pressure?
“I don’t know, I live for it. Like, I love those moments of the pressure being at its most. I’ve always said that or believed and felt that I performed best whenever the pressure is the highest. I’m excited about it. I love it. I eat it up.”
Do you think it helps that Adam Stevens has been through both playoff formats?
“I haven’t really thought about that, but it’s probably good that he has experience with it. But honestly, there’s no there’s no gimmicks. There’s no games, it’s just literally 10 races. Go out there and perform well every single week or perform as good as you can every week. Before there were kind of these – if you have a bad race or a bad track, it’s like, okay, just survive this track and make your points up at this other track, and then we’re gonna get a reset where we don’t have that anymore.”
Are you happy the final race is back at Homestead?
“I am very happy that Homestead is not a winner take all event. Trust me on that, for sure. But I do believe that we can go to Homestead and compete for the win. Obviously, (Kyle) Larson and (Tyler) Reddick are two great drivers at that track, and they’re probably better than me at that track. But I have won there before, and I don’t have to win the race at Homestead to be the champion now. So, going back to my running joke, I better have a points buffer whenever I get there. But you never know. You never know.”
About Toyota
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For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
