Christopher Bell breaks silence on criticism over his lack of aggression during Kyle Larson fight at Vegas, says he isn’t going ‘blatantly wreck somebody’
Christopher Bell is one of the few racers in the current Cup line-up known for relatively clean racing.
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Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson (Via IMAGO)
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell has responded to the criticism he received for racing Kyle Larson ‘too clean’ in the final laps of the Las Vegas Cup race. He lost the race to the 2021 Cup champion by a car length. While Larson had booked his spot for the season finale, Bell is still three points from the provisional elimination line.
One of the major criticisms the No:20 Toyota Camry driver faced after the elimination was his not being rough in the final run. Some NASCAR personalities pointed out that if he had been a bit aggressive, the win would’ve been his, as Bell had the pace advantage as well as the skill to pull off such a move.
But the TRD star, responding to the criticism, claimed that wrecking opponents for the win isn’t his racing style. He said that even if he had wanted to do that to the No:55 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy driver, the opportunity was not there. Bell believes that he did everything that was possible at the moment and there was nothing left for him to do.
“Whenever I got out of the car, I genuinely didn’t know what other moves I could have made to win the race. I’m not going to blatantly wreck somebody — and I don’t even think I really had the opportunity to blatantly wreck him. It’s not like I lifted coming to the checkered flag. I didn’t lift off the accelerator, and I didn’t pile drive him, so my run wasn’t massive.”
Bell said, as reported by NBC Sports.
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Kyle Larson appreciated Christopher Bell’s clean racing after the event
Larson and Bell have had several last-lap fights for the win, starting from their career together in the dirt racing scenes. But from day one, Bell has been racing the former with respect, and all their fights on the track have been clean.
Larson was often the aggressor during their fights. He appreciated his Toyota rival for racing with respect in the final laps. Larson said at Vegas, “Thankfully Christopher always races extremely clean. Could have got crazier than it did coming to the start/finish line. Thank you to him for racing with respect there.”
If, instead of Bell, Larson was fighting his close friend and JGR driver Denny Hamlin, things could’ve been much different. Hamlin had wrecked Larson twice for the win this year during the regular season and has been open about his aggressive racing style.
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Justin P Joy
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