30-YO Christopher Bell wary of Kyle Larson threat as Martinsville showdown decides Championship 4 fate

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell opened up about Kyle Larson's threat as the Martinsville race inches closer. Bell, who is 30 years old, has yet to qualify for the Championship 4 and will go head-to-head against Larson and others at Martinsville on Saturday.

Following the race at Talladega, Bell's JGR teammate, Chase Briscoe, qualified for the final round. Prior to that race, Denny Hamlin, another Joe Gibbs Racing driver, also qualified for the Championship 4.

This leaves Bell as the only Joe Gibbs Racing man among the six drivers who are fighting for the qualification. As the stakes are high, so are the threats. Bell, speaking about this, opened up after the race at Talladega.

In his interview, the #20 driver spoke about how good Kyle Larson and his team were at Martinsville. Here's what the JGR driver told NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass:

"Yeah I think. He's obviously been pretty good at Martinsville. The Hendrick cars have been really good at Martinsville in the past. So yeah just going to have to be good there, and it's going to be wild Bob, it's going to be wild."

Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson are the only drivers who are currently above the playoff cutline. Bell is in third place with +37 to his name, while Larson is in fourth place with +36 points.

On the other hand, William Byron, reigning champion, Joey Logano, 2023 Cup Series winner Ryan Blaney, and HMS driver Chase Elliott are also in contention for a playoff berth. One win on Saturday, and they are through to the final round.

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Christopher Bell's crew chief opened up about their preparation ahead of Martinsville race

Christopher Bell's crew chief, Adam Stevens, opened up about the #20 team's preparation ahead of the all-important Martinsville race. Speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio in an interview, here's what Stevens said:

NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell (20) during the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway - Source: Imagn

"You know we're probably 95 percent worried about Martinsville and there's two teams that are probably 95 percent worried about Phoenix, if not more. Thankfully for myself and my team, if we could make it through this weekend, we can piggyback off of all of the homework that they've done and be a lot further down the road because they've been thinking and working so far ahead on Phoenix."

Christopher Bell has four wins to his name this season in 34 outings. Besides this, he also has 13 Top 5s, 21 Top 10s, and three DNFs to his name. His average start position has been 12.686, and his average finish position has been 11.324.

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Edited by Sabyasachi Biswas