"That's why I got frustrated": Christopher Bell doesn't hold back on ending 'that narrative' with Atlanta win

Christopher Bell recently won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This was Bell's first win since New Hampshire last season. In fact, the #20 driver's victory lane trip is the first for a Joe Gibbs Racing driver since June 2024.

After the race at Atlanta, Bell was asked about him being in the victory lane exactly eight months after his New Hampshire win. In his response, the #20 driver said:

"I am glad we don’t have to hear that. Joe Gibbs Racing has not won since June. I’m very happy to end that narrative."

This prompted a journalist to ask Bell whether there was any 'overwhelming urgency' that his team wasn't where it needed to be. The JGR driver answered with a resounding 'absolutely not.'

"That’s why I got so frustrated with all of you guys, all of you guys saying, JGR hasn’t won since June, they won’t won since June. You look at Gateway. Gateway was could have, should have win. We had Las Vegas. That was definitely a could have, should have win. There’s a ton of races littered throughout that second half of the year that at least my team had."

Bell claimed that from his firsthand experience, he knows that Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex had similar experiences in races. Because of this, he expressed his relief to 'finally end that narrative' and that they're not winless anymore.

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Christopher Bell opens up on how winning early in season changes his strategy and approach for the season

During his post-race media interaction, Christopher Bell was asked about winning the second race of the season and how it changes his approach. Since his first full-time Cup season, Bell has won the second race of the schedule on one previous occassion, the previous one being in February 2021 race at Daytona.

Speaking about the impact of winning early in the season, Bell claimed it doesn't change his approach at all. He mentioned that at the end of 2024, they decided they need to win more races.

"If we don’t win another race before the playoffs start or the end of the year, it’s not going to be a good season for us. We’re here to stay, and we need to prove that. We need to walk the walk and quit talking the talk," Bell claimed.

With that said, Bell thanked 'huge addition' and his mentor, Aric Almirola at JGR. The #20 driver said that Almirola has helped him and his mental state whenever it comes to such races because he doesn't enjoy 'the superspeedway stuff.'

Bell credited Almirola for doing 'a great job' in improving his craft at superspeedway tracks.