Can 30-year-old Christopher Bell capture his first NASCAR Cup Series championship this year?

Photo: Dominic Aragon/TRE

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver earned his fifth consecutive and fifth career playoff appearance this year.

Bell was the first multi-winner in 2025, collecting victories 2025 is Bell’s fifth consecutive and fifth overall appearance in the NASCAR Playoffs. 

Photo: Jonathan Fjeld/TRE

“I’m looking forward to it,” Bell said during media week. “I’ve been looking forward to the Playoffs for a long time and just ready to put the pressure on and go to the Southern 500. It’s one of my favorite races of the year and I’m excited.”

Bell qualified for the Championship 4 in 2022 and 2023, narrowly missing the cut last season at Martinsville.

Photo: Sophia LaRiche/TRE

Entering the playoffs, Bell’s last victory dates back 22 races to the Phoenix victory in March.

Yet, during media day, Bell said he and the No. 20 team need to be doing anything different in the playoffs. 

Photo: Dominic Aragon/TRE

“Just keep plugging away,” Bell said.”I’ve actually asked Adam (Stevens, crew chief) that because I was a little bit concerned about that a couple of weeks ago, and he said we are not doing anything different than we were when we won three races in a row to start the season. 

“So, we’ve got a great team, a great process and we are going to keep after it, and we are going to great race tracks for us.”

Of the 10 playoffs tracks, Bell has won at four of them: Loudon and the Charlotte ROVAL (Round of 12); Martinsville (Round of 8; and Phoenix (Championship venue).

Bell will start the playoffs as the No. 5 seed, 17 points above the Round of 12 cutline. 

Stats through the first 26 races

1 pole

3 wins

9 Top-5 finishes

14 Top-10 finishes

225 laps led

14.8 average finish

Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.

From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book “All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story” with racer Geoff Bodine.

Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.

You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.