NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell is in as good a position as he\u2019s ever been in his seven seasons in the series to win his first Cup Series title.<\/p>\n
If Bell wants to remain in the title hunt, he\u2019ll need to have another strong run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.<\/p>\n
Bell is used to running well at Las Vegas but has never won at LVMS. And all of Bell\u2019s near misses are still at the top of his mind when he thinks about the track.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh my goodness, Vegas has been heartbreak central for me throughout my entire career between the Truck Series, the O\u2019Reilly Series and the Cup Series,\u201d Bell said. \u201cI think I\u2019ve probably led more laps at Vegas than any other track that I haven\u2019t won at.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we\u2019re going to be good there and it\u2019s going to be another great opportunity (to win and get a lot of points). So, we got to score some points, that\u2019s going to be the name of the game right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NASCAR Cup Series races Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the South Point 400. Bell and the rest of the Cup Series field will be on track Saturday for practice and qualifying, which begins at 1:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Green flag time for the fifth race in the NASCAR Chase is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Sunday around the 1\u00bd-mile D-shaped LVMS oval.<\/p>\n
\u2018Great opportunities\u2019<\/p>\n
Bell enters the weekend third in the NASCAR Cup Series standings at 50 points behind leader Kyle Larson. Bell is coming off a sixth-place run at Kansas, a 1\u00bd-mile track similar to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Las Vegas is the second of three consecutive 1\u00bd-mile tracks in the Chase, with Charlotte to follow next week. Bell, driving the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, said the stretch of similar tracks will be crucial in determining who wins the championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese three races are going to be great opportunities for us and they\u2019re a strength for our organization and my team,\u201d said Bell, whose Toyota teammates have been strong on 1\u00bd-mile tracks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to capitalize on that. Whenever we get down the (Chase) like at Talladega or Martinsville, those are places I don\u2019t feel as confident at. These next three and Phoenix (after), we need to make some hay and score some points.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell, 31, from Norman, Oklahoma, has five top-five finishes in his last seven races at LVMS. He\u2019s won three poles at the track and led 279 laps in the Cup Series but is winless across all three of NASCAR\u2019s top three national touring series at LVMS.<\/p>\n
\u201cVegas is just a really, really fast track,\u201d Bell said. \u201cAt Vegas, you just haul the mail around that racetrack, so it\u2019s fun. Everyone loves going out to Vegas, but the track itself is so much fun because it\u2019s fun and it\u2019s a good one (for us).\u201d<\/p>\n
Given how Bell started the Chase, luck could be on his side to end his Las Vegas drought.<\/p>\n
After six runner-up finishes in the 26 regular season races, Bell opened the Chase with a win at the Southern 500 at Darlington on Sept. 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing,\u201d Bell said. \u201cThe Southern 500 is a really big event. It\u2019s been a great year for us and finally we got the win. Thinking of the crown jewel races, we won Darlington, ran second at Charlotte and almost won the (Coca-Cola 600), ran second in Indianapolis (Brickyard 400).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a really good showing for us this year and hopefully we can finish out the year on a high note.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Happy\u2019 with playoff format<\/p>\n
This season marks the return of the 10-race Chase format for the NASCAR playoffs. Gone are the three three-race rounds with eliminations and a winner-take-all championship race for the Final 4.<\/p>\n
Bell has reached the Final 4 twice and the last two years finished fifth and just missed out on qualifying to race for the title in the title race. Bell has consistently been outspoken about his dissatisfaction with the randomness of the previous format and was one of the top drivers saying the playoff needed a change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super happy with the product that we have right now and I think NASCAR has done an amazing job of striking the balance of giving us a platform that rewards consistency and weighs every race the same,\u201d Bell said. \u201cThat was my biggest complaint about the previous format was that there were certain races or tracks that weighed more than others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe champion of the sport should have to be a well-rounded driver, not just one that excels at one specific track.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com<\/a>. Follow @AlexWright1028<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Up next<\/p>\n What: South Point 400 NASCAR Cup Series Chase Race<\/p>\n When: 2:30 p.m. Sunday<\/p>\n Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway<\/p>\n TV: USA Network<\/p>\n Betting favorite: Kyle Larson (+375)<\/p>\n Saturday schedule<\/p>\n 11 a.m. \u2014 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series practice (two groups, 25 minutes each)<\/p>\n 12:05 p.m. \u2014 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series qualifying (single car, one lap)<\/p>\n 1:30 p.m. \u2014 NASCAR Cup Series Practice (one group, 50 minutes)<\/p>\n 2:35 p.m. \u2014 NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying (single car, one lap)<\/p>\n 4 p.m. \u2014 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Driver Introductions<\/p>\n 4:30 p.m. \u2014 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Focused Health 302 Chase Race (201 laps)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell is in as good a position as he\u2019s ever been in his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-918685","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\/918685","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=918685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}