"22 top fives, 8 wins, and a three in a row": Christopher Bell's shot-caller sees echoes of Kyle Busch's dominant 2018 Season in JGR's No. 20 team

Adam Stevens, crew chief of the No. 20 Toyota team, recently expressed his thoughts after three back-to-back wins by Christopher Bell in the first four races of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. He drew a parallel between Joe Gibbs Racing driver Bell's current run and Kyle Busch's magnificent 2018 season.

Two-time Cup Series champion Busch and his former right-hand man Stevens were a force to be reckoned with when they lifted their maiden trophy after joining hands in the 2015 season under the JGR shed. Followed by another coveted trophy in 2019. However, the 46-year-old veteran crew chief highlighted the 2018 NASCAR season with Busch, where the latter last won three consecutive Cup races.

In a recent conversation with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Stevens compared Bell's three-peat in the 2025 season to Richard Childress Racing driver Busch's 2018 season. He said:

"The spot that we've been able to get our team to, and this year is a continuation of that, feels like some of those runs that we had back in the 18-team days... I mean, it was just every week, if you didn't wreck, you were finishing in the top five. It was comical," Stevens said.

"Yeah, 22 top fives, I believe in 2018, and 8 wins, and we did have a stretch where we won three in a row. I just pulled it up here, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, and races seven, eight, and nine. And then we had to go to Talladega, so that's a streak under there."

Moreover, Steven mentioned Busch's finishes before the three consecutive wins in 2018 were several top fives finishes. He continued:

"It just feels like that, where we know if we do our jobs individually, all of us, that's in the shop, that is my mechanics and engineers, my driver, my over-the-wall crew, and most importantly myself, and then we execute as a team together at the racetrack... and it feels a lot like that 2018 season."

While Bell is riding high on his back-to-back-to-back wins this early in NASCAR's premier division. The 30-year-old, who is in his fifth full-time season with the Joe Gibbs outfit, will also take advantage of the momentum for another historic feat set by a seven-time Cup Series champion.

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Joe Gibbs sends a straightforward message for Christopher Bell's potential entry to 'rare fields'

Christopher Bell won his first race of the season at the Atlanta Motor Speedway after a setback in the season-opener race in Daytona. He extended his streak in an intense battle with Kyle Busch in the final stage of the road course race at Circuit of the Americas. Most recently, the Oklahoma native wheeled in his No. 20 Toyota at the Phoenix Raceway.

Speaking to Fox Sports journalist Bob Pockrass, Joe Gibbs, JGR founder and owner reflected on the chances of Bell making the upcoming Las Vegas race as his fourth consecutive win, thus, tying NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson's 2007 record of four back-to-back wins.

"They'll[No. 20 team] have a chance to do that [at Vegas]. I told them that on pit road [at Phoenix]. Right now, they're kind of in a rare field of people that have accomplished things. It's out there for them, and we'll see what happens."

NASCAR: Cup Qualifying - Source: Imagn

While Christopher Bell finished runner-up in the fall Las Vegas race last season, the No. 20 Toyota team will hope to carry the winning momentum for Sunday's (March 16) race in Las Vegas, Nevada.