Christopher Bell nearly caught Chase Briscoe at Charlotte Motor Speedway, losing by just 0.029 seconds after the drivers battled through the final corner. A week later, Bell left Phoenix Raceway with something far more valuable than a runner-up finish: a chance to take control of the championship. Kyle Larson’s incident cut his lead to five points, putting Bell right behind him with four races remaining in the season. But there is a catch.
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Bell’s two closest teammates, Briscoe and Denny Hamlin, are also chasing the title. And the next stop is Talladega Superspeedway, where drivers often need help from the very people they must beat. Christopher Bell addressed that uncomfortable reality before Sunday’s YellaWood 500.
“I think all of us understand that we’re racing against each other. I need the points, the 19 needs points, and the 11 needs points. So we’re out there, and obviously, we’re not going to do anything to the detriment of each other, but we’re racing for our own team, and that’s first and foremost,” the No. 20 driver told Peter Stratta.
The strategy might be complicated, but the math behind it is not. Christopher Bell, Briscoe, and Hamlin share the Joe Gibbs Racing garage, but they cannot share the championship. Larson leads with 2,370 points, Bell has 2,365, Briscoe sits at 2,346, and Hamlin follows at 2,339.
A good afternoon could put any of the four in front. A bad one could leave them scrambling with upcoming playoff stops at Martinsville Speedway and the championship finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway looming ahead.
Talladega makes this more than a question of who has the fastest car. Drivers run in tightly packed groups, using the aerodynamic push from cars behind them to build speed and make passes. Teammates can work together to move forward, but they still have to decide when cooperation serves their own race.
If Christopher Bell pushes Briscoe toward the lead, he might help a direct title rival collect points. If he refuses to help, he could lose a valuable drafting partner.
The team has already seen how thin the line can be. At Charlotte, Bell made a late charge against Briscoe, and the two made contact before Briscoe held on for the win. There was no need for either driver to step aside.
Both wanted the victory, and the photo finish showed just how little separated them. Now, with the championship at stake, that same competitive instinct carries much greater consequences.
Briscoe has won twice in the last three Chase races, while Hamlin remains close enough to make a late run. Christopher Bell cannot afford to treat either teammate as a guaranteed ally.
Yet the three Toyotas could also give Joe Gibbs Racing a numerical advantage against Larson, who is the only Chevrolet driver among the seven contenders within 56 points of the lead.
That advantage could matter even more because NASCAR is changing the package again.
The series will use a 3.5-inch rear spoiler at Talladega, down from four inches at Daytona International Speedway in August. The engine package also remains at 465 horsepower, reduced from 510. NASCAR is trying to reduce drag and give drivers more room to move through the pack. But Bell’s Daytona experience did not leave him convinced that the changes had transformed the racing.
“I was, and I was surprised that other people said the opposite.”
Christopher Bell was responding to a question about whether the new package had underwhelmed him. He said he had climbed out of the car feeling that the difference was small, even though other drivers seemed to have a different reaction.
That makes Sunday’s race difficult to predict, particularly when so much of the championship could depend on how the pack behaves.
“From my experience at Daytona, I don’t expect a big, eye-opening difference in the racing product. But maybe there’ll just be slight differences between what we saw at Daytona and what we have here today.”
There is no guarantee that a revised spoiler will create the passing opportunities NASCAR wants. Talladega still demands close cooperation between cars, and one mistake can trigger a multicar crash. Larson’s 34th-place finish at Phoenix showed how quickly a championship lead can shrink. At Talladega, a similar result could change the entire title picture again.
Christopher Bell has a clear opportunity, but he cannot control every part of it. He must gain on Larson, keep Briscoe and Hamlin within reach, and make the right calls in a race where drafting partners can become rivals in seconds.
Joe Gibbs Racing may have three drivers capable of winning the championship. Whether that becomes an advantage depends on how they race when helping one another stops being the obvious choice.