“It bothered me”: Christopher Bell makes his ‘resentment’ clear of watching Kyle Larson do what Joe Gibbs once denied

Christopher Bell recently spoke out on the resentment he had carried for a long time after team boss Joe Gibbs didn't allow his drivers to participate in dirt racing events. Joe Gibbs Racing had a policy that discouraged its drivers from competing in non-NASCAR events, including dirt racing, fearing that the drivers might get hurt.

However, that restriction was finally removed in November 2024, and Christopher Bell is ready to have some fun in 2025 aside from his Cup Series schedule. Before joining the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing team in 2021, Christopher Bell had made quite the name for himself in dirt track racing. Midget racing was one of the core parts of his pre-NASCAR career.

While the JGR drivers were not allowed to compete outside of NASCAR, other teams had no such restrictions. Drivers like Kyle Larson continued to compete in fun events like the Chili Bowl Nationals (he won the event earlier in January), which made Christopher Bell resentful of his own team. In a video clip shared on X by the official handle of NASCAR, Bell spoke about the past restrictions and how it bothered him for a long time.

"Certainly, I did have some resentment. It bothered me," Bell shared. "Like, I was sitting on the couch watching races, watching Kyle (Larson) getting to go do all the stuff, all the fun stuff that I wanted to do. It took me a little bit to be able to overcome that and it wasn't until probably late 2023, when I finally came to peace with myself and I had just accepted that dirt racing was not in my cards right now. Now I just get to have some fun and just get my mind off of the Cup Series grind."

Bell has had a magnificent start to his 2025 Cup Series campaign, winning three consecutive races in the first four events of the season.

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Christopher Bell is now willing to take more risks

NASCAR: Christopher Bell after winning the Shriners Children's 500 - Source: Imagn

Before taking his first victory in 2025 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell had remained winless for 19 races. But his victory early in the season means that he has already made it to this season's playoffs. With the pressure of the playoffs gone, Bell went on a winning streak and is now the first driver to win three consecutive races in NASCAR's Next Gen cars.

Ahead of this weekend's race in Las Vegas, Bell spoke about how the current situation allows him and the #20 team to be more aggressive and take more risks to secure more victories. A possibility of four consecutive race wins is also on the cards. Only eight drivers in the modern era of NASCAR (since 1972) have achieved this feat. Speaking about his approach for the rest of the regular-season, Bell explained (via SpeedwayDigest):

"With us having multiple wins and knowing that we’re in the playoffs, if there’s a little bit more risky of a move, yeah, it certainly opens up the strategy book. You don’t really know how it’s going to play out until you get into the race, but certainly, the positions where it’s a little bit more high-risk where you normally wouldn’t take that risk if you’re focused on the regular-season points, well, now we can."

This coming Sunday, March 16, Christopher Bell will aim to join the elite list of drivers with four consecutive wins to their name, including the likes of Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon.