NASCAR CUP SERIES: FOOD CITY DIRT RACE

April 9, 2023

Christopher Bell

Press Conference

An Interview with:

THE MODERATOR: We've been joined by our race winner, Christopher Bell. This is Christopher's fifth career victory and his first of 2023.

Congratulations. It feels kind of natural that you would finally win the Bristol dirt race. Talk to us a little bit about your run and how it feels to have this win checked.

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, that was tough. Those last, I don't know, 70 laps or whatever it was, probably less than that, when we got on the top, was very tricky because the cushion was very unforgiving to run. If you made mistakes, you paid a really big price.

Yeah, the laps just felt like they were taking forever to tick by because it was so hard to get the car through the corner and not make a mistake. Yeah, it was very tough from my seat.

But hopefully it was a good race. I know whenever I was back in the field at the beginning of the race, people were two- and three-wide majority of the time. It was pretty good from my seat.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for Christopher.

Q. Seeing you racing with Briscoe, the two of you growing up together, Reddick, the top six guys all come from a dirt discipline, what was it about the track that favored you all?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, the track was most definitely a very tough surface to get ahold of. It should have rewarded guys that kind of knew what to expect and how to get the car around the racetrack, which I think it did.

It was a tricky surface. It was very tough to produce lap time. I think that's what made it fun, too.

Q. Opinion change on Bristol at all as a dirt track?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: I don't know. I guess that's more for the general public to decide. From my seat, it seemed like it was a pretty good race.

This is also one of the best short tracks we have on the schedule. I don't know, maybe we have three Bristol races, and that's probably not likely. Yeah, I'm good either way on it.

Q. You probably don't get the spotlight and shine that your teammates do. Does that bother you at all? Do you care?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: No. I mean, I'd probably rather it be that way. I really enjoy just driving race cars. Yeah, I love driving race cars. That's fine by me.

Maybe if I win a couple more races, I don't know. It's a tough question. Tough question. I don't really have an answer for it. It doesn't bother me.

Q. Is there a reason it seemed like all the dirt guys excelled today?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, definitely the track favored experience on dirt tracks tonight. But on the same hand last year two dirt guys were definitely going to run 1-2 if they didn't get taken out on the last lap.

With that being said, last year was very similar that two dirt guys were going to run first and second. Tonight for sure the track was very tough. Certainly favored the guys that had experience on that kind of track.

Q. What are some of the things your crew chief has brought of you that has sharpened you?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, I mean, Adam has been able to instill confidence in me by giving me fast race cars and cars that I know are going to handle good enough for me.

He's probably the best leader that I've ever driven for. He knows how to manage the highs and lows of a season, and he definitely can bring out the best in me.

Q. Toyota as a manufacturer seems to be picking up momentum in recent weeks. Do you think this is potentially a spark that will pick up as the season goes?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: I hope so. The Chevrolets have been super fast to start out the year. There was no doubt that we were behind them.

But we're in a really good stretch of races for our cars. If you look at Richmond, Bristol dirt, then even Martinsville, I would expect us to be really strong. Whenever we get back to the mile-and-a-half's, I'm not really sure where we're at.

With that being said, we know there is room to improve, and hopefully that comes sooner rather than later.

Q. What does it mean to get the win here to take advantage of these opportunities going into Martinsville, last time the winner?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: We knew this was going to be a good stretch of races. Obviously wanted to capitalize on it.

Last year through the Playoffs, it was a really big eye opener of Playoff points, how important they are. Frankly, we didn't have very many of 'em last year. The only thing that pays Playoff points is race wins and stage wins.

Thankfully we have five in the bank now and we need to get some more.

Q. How did this track challenge you in a different way tonight?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, so it was just very technical. It obviously got very slippery. The cushion up top had speed in it if you could run next to it. The problem was if you got over it, you paid a big penalty and lost a lot of time. You could get over it with the right rear and the right front. It was a very fine balance of getting the car bent and crooked enough to ride against it without getting your right rear or right front over it.

These things are pretty tough to drive on a dirt track, especially whenever you're trying to drift them around the corner. You're kind of wrestling a pig out there for however many corners you got.

Q. (No microphone.)

CHRISTOPHER BELL: I definitely think this was the cream of the crop for track conditions. I don't think you're going to get any better than that.

Q. How confident were you you were going to win even if the caution didn't come out?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: I mean, I was fully committed to block the move. I'm sure that he would have given me a little friendly bumper. I don't know, I might have spun out, I might not have spun out.

I was prepared to block the move. Maybe that would have caught him off guard. I didn't know the yellow flag had come out until I had already shown my hand going into turn three. It was probably going to be an exciting finish, that's for sure.

Q. What was the biggest concern you had in the back of your mind getting closer to the finish?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, it kind of goes both ways where I'm leading the race and I have everything to lose and nothing to gain. He has everything to gain and nothing to lose.

So for me, I was just trying to make sure that I hit my marks, drive smooth, not make a mistake that took myself out of it. I'm sure he was giving it 110%.

Yeah, I think that was the majority of it, yeah.

Q. What did Reddick say to you after the race when he came up to the car?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: He just said it was going to be interesting if the yellow flag didn't come out. Yeah, obviously he said congratulations. Great day for both of us to run 1-2.

Q. You're the last guy to win at Martinsville. How much confidence does that give you? Where did you put your grandfather clock?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: My grandfather clock is in my dining room. That's where that sits.

But yeah, I mean, I feel good about going back to Martinsville. It's going to be certainly different with the low downforce package. But it's different for everybody. I feel like we were the best car there in the fall, so hopefully we can do our homework and make sure to study the differences between Richmond and Phoenix with the low downforce package and what we expect at Martinsville.

Q. You moved your winning Chili Bowl car out of the house?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yes.

Q. You said you showed your hand going into three. Tyler questioned if you knew the caution was out or if that was going to be your defensive move. What were you going to prepare for had the caution not come out?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, I mean, I had kind of been running the slider line through three and four earlier in the third stage. I felt like that while I would overall hurt my lap time by doing that, it was going to be a defensive move to block the line where he couldn't get in there and get beside me and put me in the fence or whatever he was going to do.

Obviously I was prepared to lose momentum off the corner, but my goal was to have him not be able to get me before we got to the line.

Q. (No microphone.)

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yes, that's a great way to put it. I was trying to take care of myself, not be put in a vulnerable position.

Q. How much pressure does this take off winning a race this early in the season? What does that mean to the rest of your regular season?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Yeah, it definitely takes pressure off. It doesn't change the end goal. Like I mentioned earlier about the Playoff points, that's what we need to start building upon in the regular season, something that we did a bad job on last year.

With the way that this format is, the only way you score Playoff points is by winning stages and winning races. Ultimately we need to get to where we can win some more races and win some stages.

Q. (No microphone.)

CHRISTOPHER BELL: Pretty cool.

Q. What does it mean to have more wins than any other active driver in their first 116 starts other than Keselowski, a former champion?

CHRISTOPHER BELL: That's incredible, something that I'm forever grateful to be in the position I am in, to drive for a team that's capable of giving me race cars capable of winning.

But I try to not look at the stats and focus on the task at hand. That is very rewarding to hear, and hopefully I'm not done here.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.