From NASCAR legend Richard Petty to veteran driver Denny Hamlin, drivers have a common opinion about the short-track package, but not Christopher Bell. While others are not happy with it, Bell, whose support for 750 hp played a role in bringing back better racing to the short tracks, couldn’t be happier. In fact, he doesn’t want the sport to stop there.

Christopher Bell wants more from NASCAR

When a reporter asked him about his feelings regarding the short-track package, Christopher Bell sounded rather elated. “That’s awesome. Yeah, that’s really good.” But that’s simply not enough for him. Now, Bell wants NASCAR to double down on this experiment and bring it to the other race tracks as well.

“I think it goes on to show that it’s a good step in the right direction, and yeah, I would love that 750 HP low-downforce package at the intermediates, and then I think we need to take another step for the short tracks and give us whatever it is, 850 or 900. Darlington last week felt so close to being a different style of race.”

That might be a bold claim, but Bell is more than ready to defend it with his explanation. In his eyes, Darlington was able to bring forward a positive change. While the NASCAR community is mocking it as an overhyped race that was no good, Bell sees a glimmer of improvement for the Next-Gen car.

“So, for so long—well, since the introduction of the Next-Gen cars, it’s made all of the intermediates and Darlington in that bucket as well, momentum racing. Where it is all about keeping your momentum up and not slowing down, and last week at Darlington we got really close to breaking that momentum threshold. 

“Getting into mechanical, getting off the corners, getting into the corners hard. You got more forward drive, that kind of thing, and I think if we could have a little bit more power, we could break out of that momentum racing threshold.”

Bell’s explanation directly addresses an age-old complaint. NASCAR’s current-gen vehicles are not as fast as they used to be. For this reason, both drivers and fans believe that racing is no longer exciting. In their eyes, the O’Reilly car is a much better NASCAR than the Cup car.

So basically, instead of shutting down their experiment, Christopher Bell wants them to bring more developments that make the Next-Gen car harder to control and race. On paper, this might look like he is going against the entire grid. But if we think deeper, then with more support and suggestions like these, NASCAR can end up improving its Next-Gen car significantly.

The upcoming race at Martinsville Speedway is another track that can bring the short-track package into the spotlight. Bell’s confidence in that was echoed by another competitor.

Cody Ware looks forward to exciting Martinsville weekend

At a track as short as Martinsville, track position and qualifying are the most important aspects. The drivers complain that it is a slugfest with 40 cars on track at such a small racetrack. Cody Ware from Rick Ware Racing believes that it is due to change soon with the short-track package coming in handy.

“It puts more aspects of the race in your control with tire management and the risk versus reward of how aggressive you want to be on starts and restarts. You have to think more from the long-term aspect of, ‘OK, if I burn up all my stuff at the start of a run, I’m not going to have anything if this stays green.’ Overall, high horsepower and low downforce have definitely made it more interesting.”

“You’re managing contact with the guys around you, but now you’re really having to manage the tires. Every time you buzz the tires, you’re taking away your speed in the long run. If you get in a little too deep and make your front tires mad, you’re going to pay more of a penalty with this package.”

With the Chase format making drivers more careful about not wrecking their cars going in for a ‘Hail Mary,’ Martinsville will be all about who understands and controls their power well while managing their tires. They will not want to take unnecessary risks, but they will definitely try to capitalize on the opponents’ misery.