As Kyle Busch did in the Homestead-Miami announcement video, if we time-traveled and went back to a month ago when the promoter’s caution was announced, no one could have predicted just how impactful it was going to be. “What are we doing? If we’re Bailey and Barnum (the circus), then let’s just freaking call it Bailey and Barnum. I mean, they went out of business,” Busch had said. But after the race, that perspective has changed. Even this JGR insider thinks so.
After Christopher Bell took home the All-Star trophy, Denny Hamlin’s former crew chief, Chris Gabehart, gave his two cents on NASCAR’s gimmick.
Gabehart said on Instagram, “The promoter’s caution or Mikey’s caution with firework explosions in the air. In true Smith family fashion, how it pertained to the race. I think it certainly made it more interesting from a fan’s perspective. Anytime you bunch them up with 30 to go, and cause a big strategy decision to be made and then put a million dollars on the line. It’s going to be more exciting. If you get into the sporting aspect of it, and did it change the outcome of the race? I don’t know, but certainly the decisions that ended up getting played out, where the #20 team had the tyres and the Penske cars didn’t, was ultimately the deciding factor.”
Gabehart isn’t wrong. When the flag flew with just 35 laps on the board, Christopher Bell dove into the pits, getting two new tires while race leader Joey Logano stayed out in the lead. Despite losing out on a few positions, once the race was underway, the No. 20 driver made it back quickly, and that’s when the real action started. Bell started an all-out attack, and you could clearly see how much pressure the No. 22 was under. As they hit every corner, Logano defended the inside line, then the outside. On one occasion, Bell even managed to get through, and it took all of Logano’s momentum on the outside to keep the position. It seemed like Bell was pushing Logano around.
In the end, Bell triumphed ahead of the Penske driver with less than 10 laps to go, partly due to Ross Chastain sniffing around for a move. Logano didn’t just have to defend against one driver but two! In the end, it came down to Bell’s higher grip and extra pit stop, all due to the caution. And while Gabehart and the rest of the JGR team were happy, Logano did not like the gimmick at all. “I’m glad you had a blast. I’m pissed off right now. Just dang it, we had the fastest car. The Shell-Pennzoil Mustang was so fast. You get to — I’m trying to choose my words correctly on the caution situation. Obviously I got bit by it, so I am the one frustrated obviously.”
For what it was worth, Adam Steves, crew chief to Christopher Bell, admitted the pit stop gamble worked in their favor. “Once we’ve made ours decision there is nothing else I am going to do about it, right? I’m a mere spectator at that point. But I did not feel great about being that far back with that many laps to go. I think the key was that we cleared those couple cars quick, and that led us — set our sights on the leaders. Then we got up there to Joey in just a handful of laps. That led us to figure out where his strengths and weaknesses were and use that to our advantage. The key to that was Bell making quick work of those first few cars.”
For Bell, it wasn’t just about the caution. As he explained, “The All-Star Race is not just another race. Everybody is more aggressive than a normal Sunday Cup race. Everyone has that win it or wear it attitude, and it races differently because of that.”
Now, Bell has a bigger goal in mind for the coming weekend.
Christopher Bell wants to make it back-to-back Coke 600 wins
While Kyle Larson was mourning his Indy 500 loss, Christopher Bell was busy walking into Victory Lane after a rain-affected Coca-Cola 600. And in the months that followed, things slumped. Bell didn’t really get any wins until the start of the 2025 season, and fans asked questions of the JGR driver. However, with three points-paying races won and the All-Star $1 million collected, Bell has all he needs to make it a repeat at the Coke 600.
Speaking about it, the driver said after his All-Star win, “I’ve definitely been surprised about just lacking pace on the intermediate tracks, like at the end of last year, we did really well at the intermediates, and was one of the strongest contenders, and then the last couple of weeks, week-in and week-out, we just haven’t been there yet. Hopefully, we make gains on it. I feel like Kansas was a little bit better than what we had at Texas and Darlington, so if we can make another step like that going into Charlotte, maybe we will be contending for the win, but we are definitely lacking a little bit at this point in time.”
He’s not alone going into the race. With support from JGR and crew chief Adam Stevens guiding him, Bell knows he has his work cut out for him. “Really the last 12 months, (crew chief) Adam (Stevens) has been on me hard about just making sure that I beat that tendency. And I don’t think you’ll completely beat it, but I have been able to see myself mature in that stage of just taking what’s coming to us and getting to the checkered flag, and that really shows this last two months or so.”
Can Bell make it big at Charlotte this year?
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