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NASCAR CUP SERIES: AUTOTRADER ECHOPARK AUTOMOTIVE 500October 28, 2020Christopher BellFort Worth, Texas THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Christopher Bell, our third‑place finisher and the driver of the No.95 Leavine Family Racing Toyota. Can you talk us through your run and how you feel getting the third‑place finish after this long week? CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, that was a very hard‑earned third‑place finish. It felt like we were coming from the back almost every yellow flag. I was very happy to see that last stage go green. I knew our car was really, really good. We were able to pass guys pretty easily and really carry momentum. I was happy with our Procore Camry pretty much all day. I was a little bit loose to start on Sunday and I knew if we could get it tightened up that we'd be pretty fast. Jason did a great job and we were able to execute and come away with a nice finish. Q. With a run like this and the season that you have had, how much momentum and how do you feel with this run going into next year? Is this kind of a confidence booster? CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, I've been‑‑ I felt like I've had speed to run in the top 10, top 5 for the last several races, just haven't been able to execute and get the job done. I was really happy today that we didn't have anything stupid happen. We did get a little bit of damage there whenever that lap car spun out, but luckily it didn't slow us down and we were able to come away with a good finish. I've been really proud of this 95 group the last several weeks, and really off and on all year. We've had really good car speed, just haven't been able to get results. I hope that this is something to build off of and it's definitely nice to run well going into the off‑season, and hopefully we can execute and do a good job at Martinsville and Phoenix, as well. Q. I was wondering how gratifying is it to have such a superb run with only two races left with Bob's team, and how much neater is it to do it with the throwback scheme? CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, it's cool. Obviously the goal is to win, and I felt like we had a Camry that was capable of winning tonight, just wasn't able to pass the 19 car whenever I caught him, and then if I would have passed the 19 car, the 18 was going to be the same story, trying to catch him and pass him. I felt like we had enough car speed to win today, just didn't work out in our favor. Martinsville is not really a track that I feel super comfortable at, but Phoenix is a great racetrack for me, and I understand it's the championship finale but hopefully we can have a good showing there, and we've still got two more opportunities to win, so we're going to give it our all. Q. How would you characterize kind of the attitude of the team and also do you know how many of these guys you could be working with next year? CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, that's a good question. Honestly I've been really, really proud of everyone on this 95 group working as hard as they have been, even since the announcement of it going away. I was really concerned that the motivation or the effort would go down, and it really hasn't. We basically showed up and brought our best car to the track whenever they got told that they were done. I've been really proud of the motivation, and it shows week in and week out. We've been bringing really good race cars to the track, so I've been really proud of them, but as far as working with them next year, I'm not sure. Q. I'm curious, I assume you saw the announcement today that Larson is going to be back next year with Hendrick. Obviously you guys have raced a lot of sprint car events together. Have you noticed any sort of difference in him or change in him over the last six months? CHRISTOPHER BELL: I mean, not really. Seems like the same ol' Larson. I'm sure he'll be a force to be reckoned with next year. Q. How do you sum up this rookie season? I know you've got a couple races left like everybody else, but you've had these kind of strong showings. Does it seem like this kind of finally shows some of what the team has been capable of even though some of the results have been a little bit uneven? CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, I would say overall that this year has been extremely disappointing from my standpoint and I'm sure everyone involved was expecting a lot more out of it, and unfortunately it didn't work out that way. But we've had great showings over the course of the year, or a couple of them anyway, we just haven't got good finishes. I'm happy that we were able to get a good finish today, and I want to finish on a high note here the last two. Q. Was it important for the team, this kind of being their home base, I know they've got the special paint scheme and everything like that. Was there maybe a little bit more focus on Texas than maybe some of the rest of these? CHRISTOPHER BELL: I wouldn't say that there's more focus on Texas. I would say Texas is definitely a strength for me as a driver, and so it was definitely a race that I looked at and knew that we could run well at, but I'm not going to say that we put extra effort into this race, no. Q. What was going through your mind when we took the green flag and then when you knew we had an official race today after such a long day? CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, it was crazy. That's definitely the longest race I've ever been a part of, starting on Sunday and ending on a Wednesday. I was really happy that we were able to get it in and get the full distance in. I basically needed all the laps I got to get up to the front. Very proud of everyone at NASCAR and Texas Motor Speedway for sticking it out and all the effort they've put in the last couple days. It's been pretty crazy to see all the time and effort to dry the racetrack and continue to dry the racetrack and finally get it in today. THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much for taking the time to join us. Congratulations on the finish and we'll see you at Martinsville. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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