Christopher Bell still holding grudge against Chevrolet after last race at Martinsville

Christopher Bell made his feelings known about Chevrolet’s alleged race manipulation at Martinsville Speedway. Bell said in a pre-race interview at Phoenix Raceway that he felt cheated and should be in the final four competing for the championship.

Driving the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, Bell was among the frontrunners to advance to the final round. However, Chevrolet’s strategy, which NASCAR described as a Member Conduct violation, at Martinsville Speedway helped William Byron take the final spot in the championship race.

In an X (formerly Twitter) post by Bob Pockrass, Bell expressed disappointment over the alleged race manipulation.

"I just feel cheated, I feel cheated out of a chance to compete for a championship," Christopher Bell said.

The Oklahoma native acknowledged he was responding to Chevrolet’s unfair strategy in the race, which forced him into a mistake on the final lap.

"It all stems from what happened 15 to 20 to go whenever the race got fixed and manipulated by Chevrolet that forced our hands to do what we did, and ultimately it forced me into a mistake on the last lap to get to the wall. I feel like I should never have been in that position, had their race been run fairly," Bell argued.

He added:

"I feel like I should be in the Championship 4."

During the Martinsville race, the No. 20 car hit the wall after passing Bubba Wallace on the final lap. The pass gave Bell the point needed to advance to the Championship 4. However, NASCAR penalized him for riding the wall, dropping his finishing position from 18th to 22nd.

The penalty allowed Byron to take the final spot in the Championship 4. Although, fellow Chevrolet drivers Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain were penalized for the alleged race manipulation after blocking the track for Byron. Wallace was also included in the penalty, which fined the drivers $100,000 and docked them 50 points.

With Christopher Bell out of championship contention, the Championship 4 is completed by Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, and defending champion Ryan Blaney. The season finale at Phoenix Raceway is happening this Sunday.

---

Christopher Bell’s teammate believes NASCAR prioritized his safety violation over alleged race manipulation

Christopher Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, argued NASCAR prioritized the safety violation penalty for No. 20 to avoid focusing on Chevrolet’s alleged race manipulation incident. The penalty ended the long wait for the final results, eliminating Bell from the playoffs.

Speaking with Actions Detrimental co-host Jared Allen, Hamlin said:

"More than likely, yes. That is the case there. They wanted to try to rule on... forget if there's any other outside curricular things that we need to take a look at, did the moves of the drivers manipulate the finish in any kind of way?" [6:01]

Hamlin added that Bell didn’t gain an advantage on the final lap.

"One thing about it is, Christopher Bell didn't gain anything through this. A car actually passed him through this wall-ride that he had off of turn four, but you could see it as, if you're them you're saying, 'Well it's also defending a position as well right?' A position that he potentially could have lost to the #23 had he passed him back."

"I think that yeah they were probably in that 27 minutes [after the race] thinking about, 'let's just dive into what the drivers themselves did that are in question and then we'll deal with the rest later,'" Hamlin concluded.

Hamlin was also eliminated with Christopher Bell after the Round of 8 race at Martinsville Speedway. This left Tyler Reddick as the only Toyota driver fighting for the championship at Phoenix Raceway.