“Not much”: Christopher Bell rules out using Saturday’s learnings for Sunday’s race after Darlington win

NASCAR driver Christopher Bell drove down victory lane in the Xfinity Series race at Darlington Raceway on Saturday. Following his win, the 29-year-old shed light on how this win would affect his mindset for the Cup race on Sunday

Christopher Bell pilots the #20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, competing full-time in the Cup Series. He made his NASCAR debut in 2015 racing in the Truck Series, where he clinched the championship title in 2017. Bell has amassed 35 race wins across all NASCAR divisions, with 9 of those wins coming in NASCAR's top division.

Christopher Bell started the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 at Darlington Raceway from pole position after a dominant qualifying run. As the race entered overtime following AJ Allmendinger's crash, Bell led the field with Cole Custer and Sheldon Creed close behind. Bell maintained his lead through the restart, crossing the finish line ahead of his JGR teammate and Custer, securing his second Xfinity Series victory of the season.

Following his win, Christopher Bell was in conversation with SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, where he shed light on his win at Darlington (via X):

"Some guys had really good long run cars, I had a really good short-run car, but lost the lead there coming to the end of the race. Yellow flag came out. Fortunately, my pit crew did an amazing job, got me out front. And yeah, it wasn't easy."

On being asked whether his win on Saturday might help him strategize the Cup race on Sunday, Bell said:

"Well, probably not much. The Xfinity cars and the Cup cars are so different right now, but it was really good to get some laps here, Darlington, run around the wall, get the feel for the wall. Maybe that'll translate a little bit, but the cars are so different. It's going to be hard to say."

Christopher Bell is currently P6 in the driver standings with three race wins to his credit. Furthermore, the Oklahoma native has secured 14 top-ten and 8 top-five finishes and will appear in the 2024 playoffs.

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Christopher Bell approves NASCAR's decision to remove Darlington from the playoff schedule

NASCAR removed Darlington Raceway from its playoff spot and scheduled it as the regular season finale in the 2024 Cup Series campaign. JGR driver Christopher Bell believes it was a good decision and voiced his approval of the same.

In a recent interview with Racing America's Toby Christie, Bell shared how this change impacts the approach of the driver's race strategy (via X):

"It is actually nice to have the Southern 500 out of the playoffs. The Southern 500 is obviously a really, really big deal. It's a crown jewel event. But with it being the first race of the playoffs like it has hurt, like it was the last couple years," Christopher Bell said [00:24].

"It did feel like you had to be a little bit cautious racing that event because going through some important. Whereas now with it being the regular season finale and not in the playoffs, I do feel like we could be a little bit more aggressive and try and go all out for a race when at a ground duel," Bell added.