Christopher Bell Glad Southern 500 is No Longer in the Playoffs
Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the final crown jewel event on the 2024 schedule, will serve as the final race of the regular season. Prior to this season, the Southern 500, one of the most difficult and grueling races in the NASCAR Cup Series, had served as the opening race of the Playoffs.
While some fans have expressed disdain over Darlington being moved outside of the Playoffs, on Tuesday, Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell expressed happiness over the movement of the Southern 500 as the final race of the regular season.
The reason Bell is a fan of the race not being in the Playoffs isn't due to fears that Darlington could wreck his championship hopes. Bell advanced to the Championship 4 in each of the last two seasons with Darlington serving as the opening race of the Playoff schedule. Bell feels moving Darlington outside of the Playoffs allows the drivers locked into the Playoffs a path to lay it all on the line for a chance at the prestigious race win.
"It is actually nice to have the Southern 500 out of the Playoffs," Bell said in a Tuesday Zoom media conference. "The Southern 500 is obviously a really, really big deal. It's a crown jewel event, but with it being the first race of the Playoffs like it was the last couple of years, it did feel like you had to be a little bit cautious racing that event because points are so important. Whereas, now, with it being the regular season finale and not in the Playoffs, I do feel like we can be a little more aggressive and try and go all-out for a race win in a crown jewel."
The Oklahoma native also feels the overall aggression level in the 500-mile event will be dialed up a notch.
"I'm excited about it being in the regular season, and I think it will up the aggression of the people who can afford it, like myself and the people who are already locked in," Bell explained. "I want to win a Southern 500, and this is a great opportunity to lay it all on the line and go for it."
The 29-year-old driver, who checked one crown jewel victory off of his checklist earlier this season with a victory in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, has a hit-or-miss record at the 1.366-mile speedway in South Carolina.
In 10 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Darlington, Bell has just two top-10 finishes, with a best finish of fifth coming in the 2022 Southern 500. Bell did start on the pole in this event last season, and led 40 laps before ultimately finishing 23rd after being swept up in a multicar accident near the end of the race.
While Bell marches toward his fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series Playoff berth, the nine-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner has had an unforeseen obstacle over the last few races as his crew chief Adam Stevens has been absent from the race track due to a double-knee injury sustained while Stevens was on vacation during the two-week NASCAR Olympic break.
Stevens, the ever-present voice in Bell's ear from atop the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team pit box, has missed out on the last three events, which have taken place at Richmond, Michigan, and Daytona. While Stevens is still on the mend, and likely won't be back at the track consistently until the middle of the opening round of the Playoffs, Bell says there is a chance that Stevens makes it to Darlington this weekend for Sunday's Southern 500.
"I'm hoping this week," Bell quipped when asked when Stevens would return to the track. "So, he can't bend his knees, so he has to keep his legs straight, but honestly, he's getting around really good in the shop. It makes it very difficult to travel, to go on planes and stuff. His wife drives him to the shop, but with Darlington being close, I think he is contemplating making a race day trip to Darlington to drive down for the event."
With modern advancements in technology, Stevens not being at the race track isn't a total back breaker for Bell and his No. 20 team. Stevens has been able to essentially call the races from the war room at the Joe Gibbs Racing team shop in Huntersville, North Carolina. There, Stevens has just about all of the same data and tools at his disposal to feed information to interim crew chief Chris Sherwood to help out from afar.
Bell says there have been few issues with Stevens calling the shots from the war room.
"For the most part, it's been pretty normal," Bell explained. "I go to Richmond, where we had the pit road incident, where I got into [Erik Jones] coming out of my pit box. So, Sherwood, who is the replacing crew chief right now, he has a role for the pit stops. I think he's catching tires, or catching gas cans, something. So, we didn't have anybody on the pit box clearing me out, and I ran into the No. 43 there. That was something that probably wouldn't have happened if Adam was there. But aside from that, I haven't noticed any difference."
Bell noted that the No. 20 pit box lost internet connection for the first time during Stevens' absence this past weekend at Daytona International Speedway, which caused Stevens to be without SMT data from the war room. But with Daytona not being a track where crew chiefs really have to lean heavily on SMT data, Bell says that was essentially a non-issue as well.
Still, I'm sure there will be a little bit of relief for the driver if his crew chief is able to attend this weekend's race at Darlington, and even more when Stevens is a full-time fixture at the track once again.
Now, Bell will look to close out a win in another crown jewel event this weekend, and if he can pull it off, he will bolster his championship hopes even further as he'd tie Kyle Larson for the series lead in victories with four this year. Bell also has the most Stage Wins this year with 10. Realistically, there is a path for Bell to head into the Playoffs with 34 Playoff Points in his back pocket by winning the race, both Stages, and by climbing past William Byron and Ryan Blaney to finish fourth in the regular season championship race.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.