Christopher Bell’s win unlocks unique NASCAR Next Gen stat

Christopher Bell’s win at Atlanta brought out an interesting stat about the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. NASCAR Data analyst Daniel Céspedes wrote about it in a post on X.

In the 2024 season, Bell led the second most laps in the Next Gen car with 1,145 laps and secured wins at Phoenix Raceway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 30-year-old displayed his dominance in the Next Gen car by becoming the first driver during this era to win at all the major race track types, achieving the stat after his win at Atlanta and before he added COTA to his road course wins.

Céspedes shared the astonishing record that Bell has set after his win at Atlanta:

"Stat that I missed after Bell’s Atlanta win: Christopher Bell’s win at Atlanta made him the only driver in the Next Gen era to earn a win on a Dirt track, Short track (.5 mile), 1 mile, Intermediate (1.5 mile), Road Course, Drafting Track. 10 wins. 6 track types."

Christopher Bell claimed victory at the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, marking his second consecutive victory in the Cup Series. Bell overtook Kyle Busch with six laps remaining and successfully stopped the advancing William Byron and Tyler Reddick on the last lap, ending his race ahead of Byron by just 0.433 seconds. The 30-year-old driver became the first driver since Kevin Harvick in 2018 to secure two wins in the first three races of the season.

This was his 11th career Cup Series win and his third race win on a road course.

William Byron finished second, followed by Tyler Reddick in third, Chase Elliott in fourth after an early setback, and Kyle Busch in fifth despite leading a race-high 42 laps.

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Christopher Bell gets real on avoiding last year's mistake with Kyle Busch at COTA

This triumph not only highlighted Christopher Bell's consistency, but also demonstrated his ability to learn from past mistakes. Last year, Bell was involved in an incident with Kyle Busch at COTA, which led to the latter spinning out. This time around, Bell successfully navigated the challenging track without major incidents.

"Yeah. I mean, I just had to redeem myself from last year. I try to race respectful. I think everyone in the garage by this point knows that I’m going to do it the right way. And last year was an oopsie on my part, and glad I didn’t do have the same thing," he said via SiriusXM.

Bell praised his crew for its hard work and strategic decisions, which played a crucial role in securing the victory. The performance also underscored his ability to compete effectively on different types of tracks, from ovals to road courses like COTA.