Christopher Bell made his full-time Cup Series debut in 2020. Before he did so, he had built up an impressive resume filled with accolades collected on dirt tracks. Even today, he races outside pavements regularly and keeps in touch with his roots. This side of his experience is why he believes that he needs to race the likes of Kyle Larson differently than he races the likes of Kevin Harvick.<\/p>\n
He said in a 2021 interview<\/a> with Frontstretch that he employs different tactics when he races against NASCAR drivers with dirt racing experience versus those who don\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n He went, \u201cI think it\u2019s just their tendencies. In the series, you get to learn about other drivers\u2019 tendencies and what they do. And you know that if you have [Kyle] Larson<\/a> lining up behind you, you don\u2019t want to give him the top. If you have Kevin Harvick lining up behind you, you don\u2019t want to give him the bottom.\u201d<\/p>\n Dirt guys have the habit of moving around, trying to find different lanes. Drivers with pavement experience alone, on the other hand, are easier to block since they stick to a single lane. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just you gotta know who you\u2019re racing, and that\u2019s part of the game, for sure,\u201d he concluded. In 2025, Bell recorded four victories to reach as far as the playoffs Round of 8.<\/p>\n Apart from what he stated, there are some other advantages that drivers with dirt racing experience carry over to their counterparts.<\/p>\n Dirt racing\u2019s advantages<\/p>\n The typical NASCAR Cup Series driver does not perform very well on road courses. They struggle to make proper exits out of turns as the Next Gen car carries a lot of weight. They need to slow their pace down a lot to make proper exits. But then, when they do so, they lose speed on the straightaways.<\/p>\n