BRISTOL, Tenn. — Heated, frustrated, annoyed. Christopher Bell was simply tired of losing.
Six days after a rare radio eruption following the NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, Bell and crew chief Adam Stevens found themselves back in Victory Lane for the first time since March, winning the Round of 16 finale at Bristol Motor Speedway.
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The boil-over at Gateway led to a midweek conversation between the driver and crew chief who have worked in tandem since 2021. Now in their fifth year together, the trust they’ve built in one another and the professionalism each exudes allowed for a quick dispatch of any hard feelings and made room for flawless execution in the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol. The result? Bell’s first points-paying win since Phoenix Raceway on March 9, over six months ago.
“I think it goes to show that any week, it can happen,” Bell said. “I got really frustrated last week because we had an opportunity to win and we didn’t win. We’ve had several opportunities to win throughout the summer and we didn’t win.
“Every week, every week we can do it. And Adam, while I was frustrated with the calls last week, he nailed every call this week, and we ended up in Victory Lane. You’re going to have that. Tonight was just a perfect example of everybody doing the right things and not making mistakes and keeping us in it. We got the fruit of that.”
After Gateway, Bell shouted “I’m over it!” over his radio after finishing seventh with what he deemed the best car on track. The tone over the radio after Bristol was, of course, notably more positive.
“Way to never give up despite a little adversity this year in these playoffs,” Stevens keyed after the checkered flag. “Proud of you, Bell.”
“I’m proud of you boys,” Bell said. “Excellent, excellent job.”
The evolution of Saturday’s race required strong trust and communication between Bell, Stevens and spotter Tab Boyd. With a new, softer right-side tire from Goodyear, higher wear arose throughout the race than was originally anticipated after Friday’s lone practice session.
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Once Bell’s approach needed to change, so too did Stevens’ atop the pit box.
“It’s definitely a lot of conversation between you and your crew chief and just asking him, hey, what is the plan here?” Bell said. “There are so many people on different strategies and different plans. We had a 125-lap stage, and all of sudden, people are having tire issues at like Lap 30. Are we going to two-stop this? Are we going to one-stop this? Do you need me to go hard? How long do I have to make these tires last?”
Together, the duo combined to produce all the right answers. The race ultimately came down to a restart with four laps remaining. Bell lined up in third place — second on the bottom lane behind Zane Smith — and was able to charge through the bottom lane in a three-wide pass on Smith and Carson Hocevar and held off a late charge from Brad Keselowski, who attempted a bump-and-run pass in the final set of corners.
Bell’s victory marks the 13th of his Cup Series tenure. It’s his fourth of the season, tying him with Shane van Gisbergen for the second-most wins of 2025. And while Bell’s elation was obvious Saturday night, so too was his unrelenting dissatisfaction.
“Winning, that’s what makes your career. That’s what makes your status in the industry,” he said. “That’s literally everything. In order to make it in this sport, you have to win. Frankly, I haven’t won enough. That’s what, win 13 in my career? That’s not enough, and I need to win more. But it starts with — every win gets it up a tick so I’m glad we got this one tonight.”
As the head of this team’s leadership, Stevens plays a key role in tempering those eager expectations, no matter how realistic they are.
“You don’t have a race, especially like this or really any race, without some circumstances affecting the outcome,” Stevens said. “My point to him last week was whatever gap there is between where we are and where we want to be, it might feel big, but it’s not big. It just takes a couple pieces of the puzzle — a right restart here and there, a little better qualifying — and we can have nights like this.”
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Now, the No. 20 team is onto the Round of 12 in the Cup Series Playoffs, completing Joe Gibbs Racing’s three-race sweep of the opening Round of 16 with three different drivers. Its goal is to win a championship, which would mark Bell’s first and Stevens’ third in their third Championship 4 appearance in four years. They have to get there first, but Bell has won the last two spring races at Phoenix.
But gone are the frustrations of Gateway. Back are the good vibes after Bristol.
“Winning fixes everything, that’s for sure,” Bell said.