The emotional baggage was too much for Christopher Bell, who was going for another clutch win at Phoneix  

The emotional baggage was too much for Christopher Bell, who was going for another clutch win at Phoneix  

Christopher Bell (Images via IMAGO)

Joe Gibbs Racing youngster Christopher Bell embodies the drama, cup series witnessed throughout the 2022 season. Bell secured his spot in the season final by securing three impressive wins when it was demanded of him. The No:20 team was aiming for the same success at Phoenix, but unlike the previous races, Sunday was an emotional roller coaster.

The JGR driver, though they had a subpar qualifier, was confident to race for the Championship. Ty Gibbs’s Xfinity series triumph was a big morale boost for the garage. But the entire JGR garage was shocked when they learned, just hours before the race, about the death of their co-owner Coy Gibbs. Bell and his teammates were left in a state of confusion.

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No one in the garage had gone through a similar experience. Dave Alpern, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, had to stand up and convince his team that they should go racing on Sunday. Bell had a positive start to the race and was close to securing a championship Coy Gibbs would have been proud of.

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JGR was again hit with bad luck as he dropped out of the top 10 in the final restart. After his tire changer caught his finger between the lug nuts. The 19 seconds pit stop positioned him way behind Joey Logano for the final restart, and he had zero chance of returning.

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Christopher Bell opens up about the emotional Phoenix experience

Christopher Bell
Christopher Bell

Christopher Bell said his perspective of the finale changed after receiving the Coy Gibbs news. He said, “You wake up first thing this morning and are super excited and thrilled with life and where you’re at, and the opportunity is given to you. To receive news like that a couple of hours before you get in the car is extremely tough. It just puts it in perspective that what we’re doing here is not the big picture for sure,”.

Bell pointed out that the emotions Joe Gibbs’s father is going through are unimaginable for him. He said, “I’m just thinking of Joe. I just can’t imagine what Joe is going through and the entire Gibbs family. That’s the important piece,”.

The JGR youngster was confused about whether to race or not on Sunday. He said, “That was an experience like I’ve never gone through in my entire life. At that moment, you don’t know right and wrong, and you don’t know if you should get in the race car and race (or) if you shouldn’t race,”.

JGR president Dave Alpern had to come out and convince his drivers that racing was the right thing to do that day. He said, “Myself, Denny (Hamlin), and the other JGR drivers were all in the same boat. We didn’t know what to do. Then Dave Alpern came back to the racetrack right before we left for driver intros, and he told us that we needed to go out there and race, and that’s what we did,”.  

Also read: Joey Logano has won the ‘only thing he raced’ for at Phoenix with the Cup championship

Also read: Coy Gibbs passes away just a day after his son Ty Gibbs’s Xfinity series triumph