Last year, Netflix released its first season of “NASCAR: Full Speed,” a docuseries following the 2023 Cup Series. The film crew zeroed in on potential championship contenders, planning to shadow the eight drivers they expected to make it to the end. When Christopher Bell made the top eight, they brought him on screen almost randomly.
“I wasn’t in that plan, was I?” Bell asked.
“You were never in that plan,” they responded.
“Imagine that.”
Bell made NASCAR’s final four (formally called the Championship Four) in 2022, the year before Netflix filmed that scene. He made it again last year. This year, with one race left to qualify, Bell has a big cushion over the fifth-place elimination line. He’s led 1,002 laps so far this season, second only to one of the Cup Series’ biggest title threats, Kyle Larson.
The Netflix crew gave Bell the “quiet contender” storyline, and they weren’t wrong. But as he knows well, people notice the “quiet” part — but don't pay enough attention to the “contender” half.
“I'm definitely quiet,” Bell told Motorsport.com. “I'm quiet and reserved, and people will kind of take that as a weakness. I'm not one of the guys that's going to be out there hooting and hollering, but I know that I'm every bit as capable as anyone else out there.
“It was interesting to me how the Netflix deal played out last year. They have to pick guys to follow throughout the year, and coming off of 2022, I was a championship contender. We made the final four, then they specifically chose not to follow me because they didn't expect me to perform well. It made me happy that I proved them wrong and crashed their party.”
Bell, 29, drives the No. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, one of the longtime powerhouse teams in the Cup Series. Modern NASCAR no longer tallies season-long points to decide the champion; these days, the title trophy shows up after a 10-race, 16-driver playoff format. Those drivers get eliminated in sets of four throughout the playoffs, until only four remain. When they get to the last race of the season, points no longer matter — whichever Championship Four driver finishes highest wins the title (even if a non-playoff driver wins the race).
This weekend, Bell enters the final race of the eight-driver round, which happens at Martinsville Speedway, in the third seed. The only two drivers above him are Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick, who both automatically qualified for the Championship Four by winning races earlier in this round.
"I know I can be as big of a threat
as anyone."
“I feel cautiously optimistic,” Bell said. “That's the words that I've been using this week, because while we do have a pretty good buffer, our competition is going to be fierce. They're going to be fast, and they're going to be racing for the win. It's going to be very important for the 20 team to be right there with them, and if we do that, we could be staring at another Championship Four berth.”
Bell is 29 points above the elimination line. His next closest competitor, William Byron, is only seven above. Bell can either make the Championship Four this weekend on points or by winning the race, and the points look good: The fewest points a driver can score in a race is one, and the most is 60.
Bell has a cushion of nearly half that, but the standings change drastically throughout a playoff weekend as drivers accumulate mid-race stage points and climb or fall through the field. Bell will be calculating points in his head — and with his team — all race long.
“Going into Martinsville, we're racing two cars: the 24 [of Byron] and the 5 [of Larson],” Bell said. “I'm sure I'm going to be asking where they're at and what the points look like, but I'll be keeping track of it pretty well. You just do the math in your head: where they're running at the end of the stages, what points get scored, and how it's playing out.”
The chop from eight drivers to four is cutthroat, and no one is eliminated until they turn their last lap at Martinsville. If there’s a race winner from below the cut line, they’ll automatically advance to Phoenix, taking a spot away from a driver who would’ve advanced on points. Bell did it from the seventh seed at Martinsville in 2022.
“This is certainly unique for us,” Bell said. “I look back at my previous Championship Four appearances, and last year, I was able to win at Homestead, lock myself in, and not have to worry about Martinsville. The year before, we went into Martinsville knowing the only thing that mattered was winning the race. We didn't have to worry about getting stage points, or even really qualifying. We just had to worry about having the best race car possible.
“This time around, we have a ton of importance on qualifying, pit-box selection, and the stage points we accumulate throughout the race. Then, even after all of that, we still have to be performing at the end of the race and get points. We have to execute on all fronts.”
The NASCAR playoffs move quickly. If Bell qualifies for the Championship Four this weekend at Martinsville, he’ll have one week to prepare for the title race in Phoenix. Bell’s never won the Cup title; in 2022, he finished 10th in the race and third of the four championship drivers. In 2023, a blown brake rotor took him out of the race early.
This week, Bell told Motorsport he’s not even thinking about the title race until after Martinsville.
“We’ve definitely got to get there first,” Bell said. “That's the advantage that Joey Logano has, and now Tyler Reddick. They can do that. But for us, we cannot turn that page yet.
“There's a lot of stress that comes from [the playoff format], but I love it. I wouldn't have it any other way. You dream of being a part of these moments and fighting for a championship. I'm sure Saturday night at Martinsville I'm not going to be sleeping very well, but the job's going to be on.”
Bell has proven he’s more than just Netflix’s quiet contender — he’s also a playoff specialist. And not shy about it, either.
“I'm super confident in my abilities,” Bell said. “I think other people kind of take me as not much of a threat, but I know I can be as big of a threat as anyone.”
