Christopher Bell is the name on everyone’s lips as the Cup Garage enters the Round of 12. Last week at Bristol, amid swelling chaos, 14 cautions due to brutal tire wear, and Bell staying calm, he nailed a late restart and edged out Brad Keselowski to end his 24-race winless streak. It was his fourth win of the season, and it completed a clean sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Round of 16. What is more, Christopher Bell owns New Hampshire almost as much as he does the spotlight. With an amazing track record, he often said that the track just clicks for him. Can the same narrative then prove true this weekend?

Since the Next-Gen car arrived, three races have been run, and Bell has crossed the finish line first in two of them (2022 and 2024), with Martin Truex Jr. sneaking a win in 2023. JGR drivers have led a jaw-dropping 661 of 907 laps and taken every single stage. Bell himself has finished lower than second just twice in 11 career starts at ‘The Magic Mile,’ with seven trips to victory lane proving he is a force to be reckoned with. Turn back the clock to before 2022, and JR cars have finished in the top two in the last 13 events at the track. Mix that with their flawless Round of 16 sweep, and the message is loud and clear.

Speaking on the Stacking Pennies podcast with Corey LaJoie, the 30-year-old driver isn’t holding back. When Corey LaJoie compared Bell’s bond with New Hampshire to Richard Petty’s dominance of 100 out of 200 wins at North Wilkesboro, Bell seemed calm and confident. He said, ” I think it’s just a combination of number one, I ran a Late Model race there whenever I was a kid, just getting started in stock car racing…”

“Before my first National Series race, Kyle Busch Motorsports took me and William Byron, the two rookie truck drivers, up there to do a rookie test back in 2016. So, before I got my first race there, I had a Late Model race and all of the Late Model practice and then a two-day rookie test in a truck and, and then from that point, you know, it gave me a good sense of how to drive the racetrack.” 

In the 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the then Truck Series rookie drove for KBM during the UNOH 175 race. He started the race from third position and finished second, trailing teammate William Byron, who led 161 of the 175 laps and secured the victory. His experiences significantly shaped his journey to NASCAR stardom in Late-Model racing, particularly at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In 2014, Bell began racing asphalt super late models for Kyle Busch Racing, winning races at New Smyrna Speedway, South Alabama Speedway, and Southern National Motorsports Park.

Christopher Bell added, “But that’s, you know, a very small part of the equation, and driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, they filled in the gap. They gave me a great Truck and had great Trucks to drive there. And then moving to Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s been, you know, one of their best racetracks as a company as well. So, um, while I have a lot of seat time there, and I think that got me a head start, I think it boils down to just driving for good organizations that have good setups and good race cars.”

Moreover, per Caesar’s Sportsbook on September 15, Bell tops the odds at +260, a nod to his 2024 Loudon win and a stellar 12.2 average finish at the track. His Bristol charge, outrunning Brad Keselowski’s bump and run, and JGR’s Round of 16 sweep with Hamlin and Briscoe only boost his case. Now fourth in the playoff standings, 20 points above the Round of 8 cut-off, Bell heads to Loudon, ready to extend this streak. And with newfound determination, the No. 20 driver has set his gaze on something more important.

Christopher Bell is confident that 2025 could be his year

After closing out the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 16 in style and dedicating his Bristol win to the late Charlie Kirk, he secured the No. 20’s spot in the Round of 12 for the fifth year straight. With just seven races left, Christopher Bell is riding a wave of optimism heading to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, confident that 2025 could be his breakthrough season. The 30-year-old told Corey LaJoie, “2025 feels much different than the years past. In ’22, I felt like an underdog, and we over-performed. We made it to the championship event. And then 2023, I felt like a favorite but got treated like an underdog, and still didn’t lead to a championship, obviously. And then in 2024, I felt like the favorite and arguably was one of the favorites, and it didn’t work out either. We didn’t even make it.” 

But 2025 is a different story. The competition is fierce even within JGR; Denny Hamlin leads the playoffs by 26 points, and Chase Briscoe has logged top 10 finishes in the last three races. Bell added, “We started out really strong and then throughout the summer months we frankly were not in championship form at all …we’ve slowly turned the page between Darlington, we had great car performance and not the execution, and then it got better at Gateway, and then obviously, Bristol worked out really well with getting the win. So, I feel like we’re slowly getting back to championship form, but certainly, going into the playoffs, I can’t tell you that I felt like it was ours to lose. That’s for sure.”

JGR clearly expects nothing less than a championship from its drivers. Director of competition Chris Gabehart said after Bell’s win, “I do think the champion is coming from this room. I have no idea what door number it’s gonna be. I genuinely don’t. I think it could be any one of these three door numbers. Be ready for your moment.” And with Toyota looking like the season favorite, all eyes will be on Joe Gibbs to see if his camp can score a championship this year.