RICHMOND, Va.: For Christopher Bell, a NASCAR Xfinity Series championship is the second piece of a three-piece puzzle.
No driver has won titles in all three of NASCAR’s top three touring series. Bell wants to be the first.
“There’s been nobody that’s won all three championships,” Bell said on Thursday during NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff media day interviews at Richmond Raceway. “I don’t think there’s been anybody that’s won all three championships yet, so that would be a really good goal. It starts with these seven races.”
Bell is the top seed entering the Playoffs on the strength of six race victories and 15 stage wins, but he knows how fleeting big leads can be. Last year, Bell had to win at ISM Raceway in Phoenix just to qualify for the Championship 4 round at Miami.
“Well, we definitely have the advantage, but last year was a rude awakening,” Bell said. “I was in a very similar spot last year. We snuck through the first round really easy. I won Richmond and locked myself into the second round. We ran top-five at the (Charlotte) ROVAL and won at Dover, so we were on top of the world.
“Then, all of a sudden, we go to Kansas and crash. OK, we are not that bad. I think we right on the bubble at Kansas. We go to Texas and we crash, and then the next thing you know, you have to win at Phoenix to be able to race for a championship. It happens fast. You get on the other side of it very, very fast.”
Bell has always prided himself on unprecedented performances. In January, he’ll try for a fourth straight title in the Chili Bowl Nationals for Midget racers, a feat accomplished only by Kevin Swindell. Even though Bell is an Oklahoma-born dirt-tracker, however, the Xfinity championship is the current priority.
“Only one guy has won four straight Chili Bowls,” Bell said. “Nobody has won (all) three NASCAR championships. The fourth Chili Bowl is a lot closer, that’s for sure. That’s number two right now, because number one is the Xfinity Series championship.”
Source: Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service
