NASCAR insider blasts JGR’s costly blunders that ruined Christopher Bell’s chase for history: “You can’t keep making errors”

NASCAR insider Jordan Bianchi has slammed Joe Gibbs Racing for their missteps that cost Christopher Bell a potential victory in Las Vegas. The #20 Toyota Camry driver looked to etch history by becoming the first driver in the NextGen era to bag four consecutive Cup Series wins; because of multiple issues, that dream failed to get fulfilled.

Bell has had a remarkable season so far. After facing trouble in the season-opener Daytona 500 that succumbed his #20 Toyota to a DNF, the Oklahoma native initiated a winning spree, bagging three consecutive triumphs -at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Circuit of The Americas, and the Phoenix Raceway. With that, the JGR driver tied Kyle Larson's championship year record of three back-to-back wins.

Naturally, the next step was to clinch a fourth win and join the elusive list of four consecutive Cup race winners, which includes legendary names like Jimmie Johnson, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and more.

However, unapproved adjustments on Christopher Bell's machine forced him to begin the 267-lap run from the rear. Moreover, pit road issues resulted in a poor pit stop, forcing Bell to stop in his teammate Chase Briscoe's box to get the wheel tightened. He lost a ton of track positions in the process.

Thus, Bianchi pulled no punches in his blunt take on JGR's Phoenix performance. He said, via Dirty Mo Media:

"I thought Bell was going to come here and have speed and do well, but we never got to see it really. Because they had to start in the back because they had unapproved adjustments, they had some other issues on the pit road. They had a pitstop where they had to go into Chase Briscoe's stall and tighten things up...you can't just keep making errors and you have to be almost perfect," Bianchi said.

Despite a 12th-place finish in Las Vegas, Bell's second place in the standings remains undisturbed.

Christopher Bell makes feelings clear on NASCAR's points system as William Byron leads the leaderboard

Even though Christopher Bell surged to the top after claiming three back-to-back wins, he couldn't dethrone Hendrick Motorsports rival William Byron from the top spot due to the DNF and fewer stage wins. The #24 Chevy driver claimed his first triumph by defending his 2024 Daytona 500 title but is yet to come home with another Cup win.

Nonetheless, unlike Bell's Daytona DNF which dropped his rank, Byron's consistent performance week after week has kept him in contention for a first Cup Series title. After a 27th-place finish in Atlanta, Byron, Jeff Gordon's #24 Chevy successor, posted a runner-up finish at the Circuit of The Americas, and emerged sixth in Phoenix. And his fourth place in Las Vegas has safeguarded his top spot as of now.

That said, Christopher Bell expressed his feelings about the points system benefitting those "running well" in races, claiming it to be "really cool."

"I genuinely think that the points format is really cool the way that it is because it rewards running well throughout the entire race. I’ve gotten great finishes and won the races, but at Atlanta, I led one lap, and at COTA, I led nine laps," Christopher Bell said.

"The car that I’m racing – William Bryon – has scored more stage points than me. I’m content with the point system and understand the reason why I’m not leading the points is because I haven’t scored stage points."

It's worth mentioning that despite the troubles, Christopher Bell stood as JGR's top finisher in Las Vegas.