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INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JULY 26: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, looks on prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Sean Gardner\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Christopher Bell<\/a> left Daytona International Speedway<\/a> frustrated after NASCAR\u2019s new superspeedway package failed to produce the major change he expected during the Coke Zero Sugar 400<\/a>. The Joe Gibbs Racing<\/a> Toyota driver finished 17th in the NASCAR Cup Series race, but the result secured him the sixth seed for The Chase.<\/p>\n The 10-race playoff begins next week at Darlington Raceway. NASCAR changed the Daytona package by cutting the rear spoiler from seven inches to four inches and reducing engine output from 510 to 465 horsepower. The changes aimed to reduce drag, create more room in traffic and limit fuel saving.<\/p>\n Bell supported the NASCAR package before the race, expecting Daytona to look different. Instead, the NASCAR Cup Series race left him questioning what the Daytona package had achieved.<\/p>\n Christopher Bell Unhappy With NASCAR Cup Series Daytona Package<\/p>\n Bell said<\/a> the NASCAR package did not change how the cars handled at Daytona.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t any different at all, which I was really disappointed in because I thought that I really bought into it. I thought it was gonna be a lot different and it didn\u2019t play out different at all. The car drove the exact same, so yeah, very, very perplexing.\u201d<\/p>\n The Christopher Bell Daytona result showed the NASCAR Cup Series package had not created the separation NASCAR wanted. Bell said the cars remained tightly grouped despite the lower-downforce setup.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, I guess it just goes to show that these things have a way, way, way more grip than what we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n NASCAR Package Creates More Fuel Saving Problems<\/p>\n Christopher Bell also said the lower horsepower in the Daytona NASCAR package may have made fuel saving worse.<\/p>\n The reduced engine output lowered the pace, while the stage lengths forced teams to manage fuel over longer runs. Bell said that combination affected the NASCAR Cup Series race.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I mean, I really thought that we\u2019re gonna see a drastically different race and arguably it was worse because of the lower horsepower change, the mile per gallon. And then the mile per gallon mixed with the amount of laps that we had to run in the stages turned into even more fuel saving.\u201d<\/p>\n Bell said fuel saving was only part of the problem. The NASCAR package still left drivers with little room to make moves.<\/p>\n Christopher Bell Says Daytona Racing Stayed Gridlocked<\/p>\n Bell said the Daytona NASCAR Cup Series race lacked the openings drivers need to pass.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can talk about fuel saving all we want, but ultimately fuel saving or racing, the cars, you\u2019re just gridlocked. Even with the lower downforce, we were still, you know, there were no holes, there was no bubble to separate the cars.\u201d<\/p>\n The race produced 41 lead changes and four cautions. Ryan Preece won his first NASCAR Cup Series race in overtime, with Daniel Su\u00e1rez second and Tyler Reddick third. Christopher Bell finished 17th.<\/p>\n NASCAR will use the same package at Talladega Superspeedway in October during The Chase. Bell made clear that the first Daytona test did not match what he expected.<\/p>\n \u201cI expected it to be a lot different. It wasn\u2019t different at all, and it was worse with the fuel mileage and the stage links that we had tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDogli Wilberforce<\/a> is a writer covering NASCAR, Formula 1, and the IndyCar Series for Heavy Sports. He has also written for Sportsnaut, FanSided, Total Apex Sports, and Last Word on Sports. Wilberforce focuses on the NASCAR Cup Series, breaking down news, driver stories, and key moments with a clear, fast, and engaging style. His work connects headlines to context, helping readers understand what matters most in the sport. More about Dogli Wilberforce<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA – JULY 26: Christopher Bell, driver of the #20 Rheem Toyota, looks on prior to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-878374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}