Christopher Bell Reveals His “Mentality Change” After Getting Into R-8

Joe Gibbs Racing veteran driver Christopher Bell has shared his thoughts on the mentality change that is needs to thrive in playoffs R-8.

Christopher Bell Reveals His “Mentality Change” After Getting Into R-8

Christopher Bell (Via @CBellRacing/X)

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The NASCAR Cup garage is at Las Vegas this weekend for the first race of playoffs R-8. Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe are among the front runner despite a restively tough outing in R-12. But they are coming in with a lot of confidence and with a change in mentality with three more races left for the finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Ahead of the Vegas race, no:20 Toyota Camry driver Christopher Bell, who is only JGR driver to make it into the finale in the Next-Gen era, shared his thoughts how his as well as his compatriots’ mentality changes once they get into the penultimate round of the playoffs. He pointed out that for the first two rounds they have a survival mindset and it changes once they gets into R-8.

You make it into the Round of 8 and the mentality changes at this point in the season, in the playoffs. The Round of 16, Round of 12, you’re just looking for points. It’s survival mode.

Christopher Bell said via Sportscasting.

In this round, their objective is winning races and not pointing their way in. It really tough to make it into the season finale on points, as the drivers have finish inside the top-5 in all three races as well as all the stages of them to earn enough points for a promotion. This challenging situation demands more from drivers than other rounds.

The Round of 8, it’s about wins. Ultimately, you need to win in order to make that (Championship) 4. And if you don’t win, then have to be in that top five (and earn) big stage points competing for wins. So, it’s a lot different.

Christopher Bell added.

The Toyota driver pointed out that the drivers can take less risk and race conservatively in the, targeting points, in the first two rounds of the playoffs. The R-8 on the other hand is more challenging for the racers.

The Round of 16, Round of 12 are pretty similar. And then the Round of 8 is a different mentality. And it takes a lot more to make the next cut.

Christopher Bell asserted.

Christopher Bell explains the risk versus reward meter for R-12

In the same conversation, Bell explained how the drivers the difference in the risk versus reward meter in the R-8. He pointed out that drivers will get bigger rewards for huge risks in the penultimate round of the playoffs, unlike the earlier round where they have more places to earn in the next round.

Christopher Bell
Christopher Bell (Via @LVMotorSpeedway/X)

I guess the biggest change is the risk versus reward meter. The Round of 8, you’re probably a lot more willing to take risks to go for wins than you would be in the Round of 12 or Round of 16. Because you know the wins mean more now than they what they did in the previous rounds.

Christopher Bell said.

The comments from the Joe Gibbs Racing driver seems rational as the last rounds of the playoffs has a massively different dynamic. He of all people understands it better, considering his success in the R-8 in the current era. It would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the star driver in the R-8, starting from Vegas.

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