Christopher Bell has “no regard for anybody”, says Penske star Ryan Blaney

Ryan Blaney wasn't thrilled with Christopher Bell after a four-wide situation left the driver of the #12 with a wrecked race car in Sunday's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas. The wreck took the Team Penske driver out of the race, resulting in a 35th-place finish.

Blaney was running seventh with 72 laps to go in Sunday's race when he was three-wide on the inside of Noah Gragson and Bubba Wallace. As they made their way through turns one and two, Bell made the move under Blaney and inserted his #20 machine into a four-wide battle for the position. While he and Bell didn't make contact, Blaney ran out of room and nudged up against Gragson, sending him into the wall and collecting the likes of Erik Jones and others.

Over his in-car radio, Blaney made his feelings known on Bell's move as he believes he didn't give him the room he needed on the track. Blaney's comments were brought to light by lead Frontstretch reporter Dalton Hopkins on X, who wrote:

"'The f*****g 20. He just shoves me through the middle. Apparently he doesn't have any regard for anybody. I don't know.' - Blaney #NASCAR #Pennzoil400"

Blaney's 35th-place finish was the capper to an unfortunate weekend for the 13-time Cup Series winner. He started from the rear of the field after not qualifying due to hitting the wall in practice. The North Carolina native managed to finish sixth in stage two, earning five points toward the season standings. After five races, Blaney sits seventh in the points.

Christopher Bell, meanwhile, came home in 12th place after a strong showing for most of the race. The Oklahoma native finished 10th in stage one, earning one point towards the season standings. After winning at Atlanta, CoTA, and Phoenix, Bell was aiming to become the first driver since 2007 to win four straight Cup races. However, his win streak was halted by Josh Berry, who drove the #21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford to the first win of his career.

---

Christopher Bell says poor execution led to the end of his winning streak

Christopher Bell became the first driver in the NextGen era to win three straight Cup Series races. However, a 12th-place finish at Las Vegas snapped the driver of the #20's winning streak.

Bell acknowledged that he knew the winning streak had to end at some point, telling FOX Sports that he and his Joe Gibbs Racing team failed to execute.

"I knew we were going to lose at some point. You're not going to win them all. But just the execution was not good on all fronts. The last three weeks, we did really well and it won us three races. And then today, it just didn't go our way. We had to start in the back and then a pit-road mishap, bad restarts, struggling with the balance and you have a 12th-place day," Christopher Bell said.

Bell sits second in the points standings after five races. He'll look to return to the Championship 4 after making the title race back-to-back in 2022 and 2023.