"I don't want to be known for selling myself on social media"- Christopher Bell on emulating role model Martin Truex Jr.

Christopher Bell has unveiled that he wishes to replicate Martin Truex Jr.'s persona in NASCAR. Upon being asked by Dale Earnhadt Jr., the Joe Gibbs Racing driver outlined how his #19 Toyota teammate differs from the majority of the drivers on the roster.

Before kicking off his 350-lap dash at the Iowa Speedway, Martin Truex Jr. settled the speculations surrounding his retirement from the sport. The New Jersey native announced that he will step down as a full-time Cup Series driver from the next season.

Truex Jr. entered JGR's garage in 2019 and is in his sixth season with the North Carolina-based outfit, while Christopher Bell entered the team in 2021. The duo has worked for three seasons and knows quite a bit about their teammate's characteristics.

Even though the #19 Toyota driver has amassed 34 wins and 288 top-10s in NASCAR's premier series, he has never bragged about his achievements and kept his focus glued to collecting more triumphs. Moreover, unlike the current trend where brand building has become a norm in the high-octane sport due to big reliance on sponsors, Truex Jr. largely keeps himself at bay from such antics.

During a discussion with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Christopher Bell cited the retiring driver as "my idol, my role model," while revealing the aspects he eyes to bring to his life as a NASCAR driver.

"Martin is like my idol, my role model. I think he's the guy that I want to be similar to whenever I get to be 30 or 40 years old. What I respect the heck out of him for is he does himself, he only cares about winning races, being the best driver that he can be and that's it. He's doing it for himself at his own way, and I think that's awesome," Bell said via Dirty Mo Media on YouTube (1:10.59).

He continued:

"In this new day of age where we're in social media and all this building your brand, building your brand is important don't get me wrong, but myself Christopher Bell, I want to be known as the race car driver Christopher Bell, how good of a race car driver I am."

"I don't want to be known for selling myself on social media, I want to be a race car driver that's who I am and that's who I want to be and I respect Martin because that's who Martin is," Bell added.

Christopher Bell reveals "going to be fun" upon upcoming reunion with his childhood racing buddy

During the New Hampshire race weekend, Bell accidentally revealed Chase as the new JGR driver. The #20 Toyota driver didn't tell the full name but it was quite obvious as the other Chase [Elliott] is having a successful stint in Hendrick Motorsports.

Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe have carved their way into NASCAR through their supremacy in dirt track racing. During their sprint and micro sprint car racing stints, the duo served as teammates but got diverted to different paths once they stepped foot into the pinnacle of stock car racing.

Now that Briscoe has signed a multiyear deal with JGR, he is set to reunite with his childhood teammate and dirt track rival. Thus, Christopher Bell highlighted that it's "going to be fun" to work together with the Indiana native again.

"Chase and me have a long history and I think we're literally a day apart in age too. So we grew up through the same stuff. He grew up in Indiana I grew up in Oklahoma, we were both dirt track racing. I think it's going to be fun to be reunited with him and I've been teammates with him on the dirt track stuff," Bell said (1:12.40)

Chase Briscoe will take over the #19 Toyota next year while Martin Truex Jr. will be seen doing other roles which are yet to be specified.