Christopher Bell had a dream start to his 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign. In March, he made headlines with a three-peat, but since then, he has gone through a rollercoaster ride. There have been some top-5 finishes here and there, but Victory Lane has remained elusive.

Kevin Harvick believes Bell and Joe Gibbs Racing lack the edge needed to reach their championship potential.

Kevin Harvick Unpacks Christopher Bell and JGR’s Inconsistency

Bell delivered a P5 finish at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday to arrest his recent slump. The JGR No. 20 recorded P24, P30, and P17 in his last three races. If we look back a bit further, we see a runner-up at Mexico City, but he posted P16 and P10 in Nashville and Michigan, respectively.

Bell currently sits sixth in the Cup Series standings with 597 points, but given how well he started the season, his numbers could be better. Harvick made that point on the latest episode of his “Happy Hour” podcast.

The 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion discussed Bell’s performance at Sonoma with his co-hosts. They observed that although Bell added another race to the top-5 column, his performance was far from smooth.

“Even at this race, it had some rocky moments with spinning out and everything,” Harvick noted. “But yeah, he had a fast car, and I think when you look back to COTA, we obviously know that he’s a good road racer.”

Harvick then shifted the focus to the entire JGR roster. Hamlin had an underwhelming performance, but the rest of the team had a decent outing.

“I think all the Gibbs cars, Hamlin seemed like he was out to lunch this week, but it seemed like the other three Gibbs cars were solid and running up front. Christopher Bell was one of those.”

Then, the 49-year-old drew parallels between William Byron and Bell, arguing they both struggle to follow up on strong starts.

“So, I still just, it’s like William Byron. I believe that Christopher Bell and William Byron, they go through this same streak every year of starting off strong, off in the middle, and you never know what’s going to show up at the end of the year.”

Harvick was impressed by Bell’s performance, but he is not sure that it will be the turning point for the Oklahoma man’s season.

“It was a solid run. But they haven’t been consistently solid. If you’re gonna win these championships, you gotta be able to find that consistency of when you’re having an off day, not have it be a catastrophe.”