“That’s about as ugly as it gets”: Christopher Bell makes feelings clear after denying JGR teammate his season’s first win

Christopher Bell just won his third consecutive race of the season at Phoenix Raceway, holding off his JGR teammate Denny Hamlin through the concluding 17 laps. However, while doing so, the Oklahoma native had to resort to all the ugliness the sport offers.

Sunday’s race was the first since Richmond last year to give the teams two sets of option tires. Christopher Bell was among the ones to put on reds for the final segment of the 312-lap event.

“That was about as ugly as it gets,” Christopher Bell told FOX. “You put the red tires on (and) you're like, alright, what I don't wanna happen is go 20-30 laps and get a yellow. Then that happened. Then we went like 10 more laps, we had another yellow.”

That last restart let Bell pull away from Denny Hamlin, who put up a strong fight in the end, bumping several times with Bell’s Camry. However, Hamlin fell 0.049 seconds short of winning his first race of the year.

“It was just all about who can get clear on the restart,” Bell continued. “Neither of us could. We're just racing really hard there coming to the line and JGR ran 1-2; how about that?”

Despite starting 11th, Bell methodically gained positions before grabbing the lead from Joey Logano with seven laps to go on Stage 2. He swept the stage, making it a great points day overall for the No. 20 team.

Christopher Bell replicates NASCAR Cup Series champion’s 2021 feat

With his win at Phoenix, Christopher Bell became the first driver to win three consecutive Cup Series races since Kyle Larson in 2021. The same was reported by NASCAR through a recent post on X.

Notably, Larson’s three-peat came before the advent of the NextGen car. Thus, Bell’s three-peat is the first in the NextGen era of the NASCAR Cup Series. It is also the closest finish in the history of the Phoenix Raceway.

Bell led 105 laps en route to his career’s 12th victory. He is now officially on a winning streak. Needless to say, the 30-year-old will attempt to extend that streak next week.

Next up for Bell is the Pennzoil 400, presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Scheduled for March 16, the race will be televised on Fox Sports 1 from 3:30 pm ET onwards. Fans can also listen to live radio updates on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

As of today, Christopher Bell sits second in the driver standings with 152 laps to his name. In four starts this season, he has amassed three top-fives and three top-10s, leading 114 laps on the way.