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NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 16, 2017

Christopher Bell

Q. What you did you learn last year that's going to help you tomorrow night?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Well, the biggest thing that I can take out of last year is the experience. To be able to make it to the Final Four my first year racing for a championship was a great experience for me. I know what the weekend is about now. I've been through this a time. Hopefully we can capitalize on it this year and get a better result.

Q. Did you think even though you were in it last year, did you think this year that you were going to do as well as you did and you were going to find yourself in this position again?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Well, I really hoped so. This year I was getting in the truck that William just had an excellent season in, and you always want to perform whenever that situation comes up. You know, I say it time and time again, but my crew chief Rudy Fugle is so, so good. He brings such fast Tundras to the racetrack week in and week out, and to be able to do what he does season after season with multiple drivers is something that I know he's proud of, and I'm proud to be associated with and drive for him.

Q. Speaking of crew chiefs, what do you think about having Jason Ratcliff next year?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: I'm stoked to drive for Jason. He's obviously a super accomplished crew chief, and to be able to drive for a guy like him that's coming from the Cup Series down to the XFINITY Series and to be at Joe Gibbs Racing is a dream come true.

Q. Tomorrow is kind of like your graduation to XFINITY, so what kind of mark do you think you've left on the Truck Series?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: I don't know. I haven't been in the Truck Series very long, so I don't know what mark I've left. But I've accomplished what I wanted to accomplish whenever I got into the Truck Series, and that was to win races. To win a championship would be great, but if I don't win the championship tomorrow, it's not something that I'm going to lose sleep over. My goal coming into the year was to be able to win races, be consistent, run good consistently, and compete for the championship, make it to the Final Four. We did all that, and we're going to lay our cards on the table tomorrow and see if it works out.

Q. What do you think the biggest difference is for you entering Homestead this year compared to last?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: My crew chief. I've got fast trucks this year. I've got really fast trucks. You know, that's been the biggest difference maker this year is just being able to unload off the truck and go fast, and to be able to win races. Last year I wasn't able to win races and we came into Homestead kind of barely making it, squeaking through, and just running mediocre. We had a good last half of the season but a good last half of the season for us was running top 5s, and now this year we've been able to win a bunch of races and be competing for wins week in and week out, and that's just a credit to the fast trucks I've got.

Q. What did you learn last year at Homestead that you can take into this weekend's race?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Just the experience. I've been through this a time now, and to be able to know what it's about and know what the pressure is like whenever it comes 7:00 tomorrow night and they tell us to strap in. That's the biggest thing is just knowing what it's about.

Q. Going in as the favorite, who do you feel like is your biggest threat tomorrow?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Well, I guess I have to say Sauter. He's won the last two races and he's the defending champion. This year has been extremely similar for him as it was to last year. Last year he didn't start off the season that great and got really, really good coming up to Homestead, and he was able to capitalize on it. Same thing this year; he's won the last two races, so that's really big momentum for him, but yet Crafton goes extremely well at Homestead. I don't know if he's won races here, but he's always leading and always in the top three. Between Crafton and Sauter, they're going to be really tough.

Q. If the stars align, in a six‑year span, you could go from running trucks to Cup. Did you see that happening?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: No, I didn't. I remember watching it happen to Larson and thinking how cool that was. I think his was a three‑year span maybe. So that was incredible to watch. I'm just focused on my task at hand, and that's to win a Truck Series championship tomorrow and another race, but going into next year, I'm stoked to go XFINITY racing. Hopefully I can continue to win races.

Q. If you look at it, you've got a shot at two championships this week. You've got a chance to win the drivers' championship and the owners' championship tomorrow in trucks, but then you're racing for a Gibbs XFINITY Series championship on Saturday, too.
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, so like I said earlier, I don't know if you were here or not, but the experience that I got last year being in the Final Four racing for a championship was something that you can't put a price tag on, and that's the same thing I'm getting this year. I'm able to be in the Final Four for the owners' championship in the XFINITY race on Saturday, so that will be great, great seat time for me going into next year.

Q. What are you going to miss most about trucks?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: I'm going to miss the people. I really enjoy everyone at Kyle Busch Motorsports. Through my three‑year run there now, I've worked with every team, and so I know everyone in the building at Kyle Busch Motorsports, and they've become really good friends of mine. I'm going to miss them.

Q. What's the difference from this team to the other one? You said you worked with all of them at KBM. What is the difference besides fast trucks and of course you have Rudy. Is that the biggest difference? Is Rudy the secret sauce here?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: I think the biggest thing is that that group of people have been together for so long that they just know each other. They know each other like the back of their hands. They can understand what they're thinking, and everyone works really, really well together. Between Rudy, my crew chief; my engineer, Hunter; car chief, Jimmy; and all the mechanics, Greg, Tyler, Darren, they do just a good job at paying attention to the details. There's so much speed that's in the details of how you put the truck together, and that's a big part of it.

Q. Will you care, will you ask for updates tomorrow of who's where or do you wait until later in the going?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: I'll just look out my windshield and see if any of them are in front of me. That's the biggest thing. Whenever you come to Homestead and it's the Final Four race, the only people that you care about are the three guys that you're racing against for the championship. If they run 30th, 29th, 28th, then all you have to do is run 27th. But as we see time and time again, most of the time they're running in the top 5 and it comes down to winning the race.

Q. Do you have any regrets in the Truck Series, missed opportunities, thing you wish you wouldn't have done, wouldn't have said? Anything that stands out in your mind?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: There were a lot of races this year that we should have won and I didn't win, so those are the biggest regrets that I have is just not capitalizing on fast trucks like we talked about. I feel like every time we've gone to the racetrack, we've had a Tundra that's capable of winning, and we don't win every race, so that's something I've got to get better at is winning more. Chicago, I led a bunch of laps, didn't win; Phoenix, led a bunch of laps, didn't win. So those are my biggest regrets.

Q. Does your mindset change as far as this race? I know you want to race for a victory, but does it change your mindset when you have to beat the three‑‑
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, it does. Last year you saw that Sauter won the championship by running fourth or fifth in the race, so that's really‑‑ whenever you go into the race, you pay attention to the other three guys because big picture that's all that matters. Whenever it comes down to Cup racing or XFINITY racing the last couple years, seems like you have to win the race, and I kind of expect it to be that way this weekend. But it wasn't that way last weekend. So that's our goal, to pay attention to the other three, and all we've got to do is beat them.

Q. The fans got to see a personal side of you this year through social media. Is that something you want to continue next year, show off your personality?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Well, it's really cool to be able to, I guess, show people who I am. JBL has been a great partner of ours, and it's been a great run with them, and I'm going to be sad to have my last hurrah at Kyle Busch Motorsports and JBL, but maybe I'll still be able to sing some songs for them.

Q. What have you learned from the Truck Series that can apply to the XFINITY Series?
CHRISTOPHER BELL: Really everything. So for me coming into the Truck Series, I've never done pit stops or long races for that matter. I've done a couple late model races at Kyle Busch Motorsports, but the XFINITY race is just a longer truck race with different people in it. That's one thing that's really cool about NASCAR is it's all the same rules and stuff like that. Everything you learn from the Truck Series can be applied to the XFINITY Series, and same thing from XFINITY to Cup. The cars are going to drive different than the trucks, obviously, but as far as race procedures, how the weekends run and stuff like that, it's all very, very good experience for me.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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