“I understand”: Christopher Bell on being booed at Charlotte

It was the first time that Christopher Bell found himself at the receiving end of boos from NASCAR fans in this year's Coca-Cola 600. However, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said they were not meant for him. In an interview with former NASCAR driver and 2014 Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick, Bell shared what he felt about being booed at the victory lane.

Bell has eight wins in the NASCAR Cup Series, with his first win coming at the Daytona International Speedway road course in 2021. The following year, Bell made his first appearance in the coveted Championship 4. Besides his achievements in the Cup arena, Bell also has 17 Xfinity Series wins and one championship in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (2017).

Last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the 600-lap crown jewel event was stopped at lap 249 due to rain. However, reports say that the plan to resume racing at 1 a.m. was dropped by NASCAR and the race was called at 11:30 p.m. ET before declaring Christopher Bell as the official winner. Fans were unhappy with the decision.

In a recent episode of Harvick Happy Hour, Bell said:

"I'll be honest. That was the first time in my career that I've gotten booed in victory lane. I knew that the situation was not ideal to have that long rain delay and everyone has their hopes up that we're going to go racing again and then they call it later in the evening... I understand why the boos were there."

"But it definitely caught me off guard, especially it was after they announced, 'And your winner is Christopher Bell...here he is,' and then just the boos rained. That's a first for me," he added.

After last week's race, Christopher Bell stands 11th on points in the Cup Series championship standings with 387 points to his credit. He now eyes the Enjoy Illinois 300 at the World Wide Technology Raceway on June 3.

Christopher Bell said he had fallen asleep while waiting for the race to resume

The entire field waited as rain poured in Concord, North Carolina. Meanwhile, Bell had fallen fast asleep.

"I am not kidding," laughed Bell as he spoke to Harvick. "So we had the broadcast rolling in the background and I thought for sure, it was going to get cancelled whenever it down poured at 10 o'clock at night and they lost the racetrack."

"And all of a sudden the rain stops and they didn't call the race," Bell said. "I'm just mentally tyring to prepare myself for going back racing...So, I'm trying to get a nap in I knew it was gonna be a really late night..."

NASCAR decided not to continue the race even after the rain stopped. NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer explained (via NASCAR.com):

"As all of that started unfolding, looking at the timelines and the amount of racing we needed to complete the race, 151 laps, we were looking at well past 2 a.m., just didn’t feel right for our competitors or our fans alike."

Christopher Bell said that it was through the NASCAR notification on his phone and the broadcast from the FOX booth that he knew he had won the race. Bell has two wins this year so far. The first was at the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway on March 10.