Christopher Bell aims for his fourth Cup Series win in 2024 at the Ally 400

Christopher Bell first let the cat out of the bag last week in Loudon and then ended the week as he always seems to do at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway: crossing the finish line first.

On a historic day when NASCAR ran rain tires on an oval track to give fans some bang for their buck — actually a few more laps than the scheduled 301 — Bell showed that he had figured out how to maneuver his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the New England track better than any other driver.

This came after he accidentally revealed that Chase Briscoe would be his JGR teammate next season. The confidential information was leaked to him during an interview in the Infield Media Center last Friday.

The win on Sunday helped to make up for the flop.

Bell’s second Cup Series win at Loudon came shortly after his fourth consecutive win in a Loudon Xfinity Series race on Saturday.

Overall, the Norman, Oklahoma native has won seven of his 11 NHMS starts, including a Truck Series triumph in 2017.

Now it’s on to Nashville Superspeedway, where the fourth consecutive Cup race will take place this Sunday, the Ally 400 on the 1.333-mile tri-oval in Lebanon, Tennessee.

Although he has achieved top-10 finishes in each of the three events held there since the 2021 season, the JGR cutie has not had the luck he had hoped for.

“It’s good to go to Nashville with three top-10s, but I didn’t feel particularly comfortable there,” said Bell, who is tied with Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson and William Byron with three Cup Series wins so far. “Since we came back with the Next Gen car, we just haven’t been as good, and I was in the back half of the top 10 and had a little bit less pace compared to the winners.”

“I know we’re trying something new to improve that and I’m going in there with a different attitude and a different mentality than I’ve had in recent years.”

The Cup Series race No. 19 just outside of Nashville will be a 300-lap affair, and Hendrick Motorsports has impressed Music City spectators by winning two of the three races.

At the inaugural 2021 event, Larson dominated by leading 264 laps, with the No. 5 Chevrolet driver beating Ross Chastain by 4.335 seconds to earn Larson’s third consecutive win.

Also of note, Chase Elliott managed a 13th-place finish but was disqualified after post-race inspection revealed he had five loose lug nuts, finishing in last place and stripped of his Stage 1 victory.

Elliott rebounded by taking the checkered flag in 2022, but Chastain broke Hendricks’ stranglehold on the trophy by putting his No. 1 Chevy Camaro on the pole, beating Martin Truex Jr. last year.

On Thursday night at the old short track at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, Chastain warmed up for race weekend by finishing fourth in the inaugural Battle of Broadway 150, one spot ahead of local hero Josh Berry.

–Field level media