HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — It didn't take long for Christopher Bell to move on from what he called a disappointing race last Sunday.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver lost to Joey Logano in Las Vegas last weekend despite dominating the race. Bell led a race-high 156 laps but was beaten by Logano, who stretched his fuel mileage to snatch the win after Bell had to pit for gas. The victory for Logano made him the first driver locked into the winner-take-all championship finale next month in Arizona.
“I’d have to say (on) Monday night, I closed the book and moved on,” Bell said. "There’s a lot worse positions to be in and you know, obviously, once that disappointment wore off, you realize we’re running really well, had a great day at Las Vegas and we’re trying to carry the momentum over to Homestead.”
Bell earned his ticket to the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway last year, and on Sunday he will look to shake off the sting of last weekend and do it again.
He's the most recent winner at two of the next three race tracks — in Homestead in 2023 and in Phoenix back in March — but he knows that's no guarantee of success.
“You have a good feeling you’re going to be competitive because the track hasn’t changed, the cars haven’t changed, the rules package hasn’t changed,” Bell said. "So, ‘you’ll be in the hunt’ is a good way to look at it. But the results of the previous race don’t guarantee anything.”
This summer, Bell emerged as a legitimate contender to win the championship after he captured a victory in New Hampshire to win for the third time for Joe Gibbs Racing. Bell has won multiple races each of the last three seasons and is a big reason why Gibbs has led 996 laps dating back to June 30 — 548 of them were led by the 29-year-old.
Bell enters Sunday’s race above the cutline along with Kyle Larson and William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports.
Bell said the strategy for the next two races before the championship will be to focus on gaining maximum points. After Sunday in Homestead, the third round goes to Martinsville Speedway in Virginia before the finale at Phoenix.
“You’re never really safe,” Bell said. “The three of us, William, Kyle and myself have kind of, the way that the cards fell, we’re kind of essentially point racing each other. ... It’s going to be a battle all the way until the checkered flag at Martinsville and, you know, everybody knows how important those wins are.”
In a slump
Denny Hamlin admitted that his pit crew is “in a slump” after a sloppy playoffs so far. Trouble on pit road was to blame for Hamlin's eighth-place finish in Las Vegas last weekend, putting him in a tough spot for the remaining two races. Still, the Gibbs driver is sticking with who he has.
“We've got to ride it out and (I) feel like that's the best group that we can put on pit road,” Hamlin said Saturday. “And certainly it's not due to talent or anything like that. They've got all the keys that they need for that. They were the best pit crew for the first quarter of this year, but certainly it's been a lot of different issues on pit road.”
Hamlin is below the cutline and needs enough points or a win to make the finale. He has two races to get there and said if he finds himself in a must-win situation in Martinsville next week, he can get it done.
“It's very difficult to win these races," Hamlin said. “We've seen that. Certainly feel like it's a race track if I had to (win), I'm certainly capable. The ‘will,’ I don't know.”
On the Bubble
The remaining drivers below the cutline are regular-season champion Tyler Reddick of 23XI Racing, reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney of Team Penske and Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports.
All three drivers are coming off terrible races in Las Vegas after they were collected in the same crash early on. The crash was triggered when Reddick's Toyota made contact with Elliott after Reddick was trying to gain on-track position and misjudged how much room he had.
The crash ended Reddick's race, while Blaney and Elliott were able to continue and finish 32nd and 33rd, respectively.
Pole winner
Reddick won the pole Saturday qualifying when he turned a 167.452 mph lap to take the top starting spot Sunday.
“It was nice to be able to capitalize in qualifying," Reddick said, "all things considered, how last week ended, man we're picking up right where we left off, to be honest.”
Larson will start second, with Bell and Hamlin next.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Alanis Thames, The Associated Press
