Christopher Bell needs to find just one more ‘missing piece of the puzzle’ to be nearly unstoppable in the Cup series

Christopher Bell has established himself as the best Toyota driver of 2023, with consistent finishes in the top 10.

Christopher Bell needs to find just one more ‘missing piece of the puzzle’ to be nearly unstoppable in the Cup series

Christopher Bell (@JGR/Twitter)

The fight to be the top guy in the Toyota Garage is between Hoe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell and 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick. The duo has produced some of the most impressive performances of the 2023 season and are the only Toyota drivers to score a win this year. Bell is the leading driver among the two and sits at the top of the championship table.

Bell won last Sunday’s Bristol dirt race, while Reddick finished second. The victory enabled him to overshadow JHR legends, Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr., among the most unfortunate drivers this season. The win and incredible consistency make Bell, the only Toyota driver who secured Championship 4 entry in 2022, a contender for the 2023 title. While Bell has been impressive so far this season, one aspect of his racing is hindering the pace of his progress.

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He has finished inside the top 10 in 6 of the 8 races this year and has an average finish of 10.6. But the thing the No:20 Toyota driver is yet to secure this season are stage wins. He has zero stage wins this year and has only led 150 laps. On the other hand, Kyle Larson and William Byron, who are placed behind him, have double the number of lead laps and multiple stage wins. Stage wins play a big part in the playoffs.

While talking about this aspect of his 2023 season, Bell said, “My cars are driving well, but we’re just missing a piece of the puzzle where we can lead the race and control the race and win stages. Hopefully, we can close the gap on that to where I can lead laps. I think that’s important in this series,”.

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Christopher Bell is pleased that his Bristol win isn’t overshadowed by an incident during the race like last year

Christopher Bell 1
Christopher Bell

The No:20 Toyota was the most clutch team in the 2022 season as they progressed to the Championship 4 race in Phoenix by securing a win when it mattered the most. But all those wins were overshadowed by someone else. His impressive Charlotte win was overshadowed by race manipulation from Cole Custer, while in Martinsville, Ross Chastain got the limelight for the wall ride. On Bristol, it was Bell’s game the whole day.  

“It’s cool. It’s funny you bring that up because it does seem like that happens quite often, but I still won the race no matter what happened. Hopefully, I can win many more in my career, so that’s not an issue,” Bell said.

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