With 73 laps to go, Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota spun hard into the Turn 1 wall at Nashville Superspeedway last year, a fiery crash that ended a dominant day where he’d led a race-high 131 laps in the Ally 400. It was a heartbreaking moment for Bell, who had been the driver to beat, only to see his hopes of a win go up in smoke after his #20 car got loose. He was running three wide with Kyle Larson on the top lane and Austin Dillon on the bottom lane, and coming into Turns 1 and 2, his car lost the air and wrecked hard into the wall. A broken toe-link and powerless engine meant he had to retire his car and settle for a 36th-place finish.
He didn’t point fingers at anyone but himself. “I just carried too much speed in there and put myself in a really bad aero spot and spun it out. Great car. Great effort by this 20 group, and I let them down today.” Unfortunately for the rest of the year, he wasn’t able to field his car in victory and saw his championship hopes slip away at the Martinsville Speedway.
Now, as the 2025 season unfolds, Bell is back at Nashville with a chance to rewrite the story. He’s been a force this year, racking up three points-paying victories, including a win at Phoenix Raceway in March, and taking the All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway. But the memory of last year’s wreck is still fresh, a reminder of how quickly things can unravel on a track as demanding as Nashville. In a recent interview after qualifying, he shared some candid thoughts on what he learned and how he’s grown as a driver since that fateful race.
On May 31, Bell qualified seventh for the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville, posting a time of 29.387 seconds in his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, a solid starting spot that puts him in contention for a redemption run. After his qualifying laps, Christopher Bell sat down with Stephen Tarato and opened up about the sting of last year’s Nashville wreck, a moment that’s clearly left a mark on him as a driver.
Bell didn’t shy away from the tough memory, responding with a mix of honesty and hope. “Yeah I definitely think I grew from it, and I talked about it a couple of weeks ago just the difference of how our season has gone this year and really the end of last year. Being able to finish out the races, and this one was a bummer because we had the car speed to go out there and compete for the win, and the race just didn’t unfold for us. Yeah, I made a mistake in traffic whenever I got back on a restart and took us out of it, and got to be there at the end of these things, and hopefully we bring our same car potential back this year, and you never know how the race is gonna unfold, but certainly crashing out is never never good.” Bell said.
Christopher Bell dominated Nashville by leading 131 laps, but crashed out and blamed himself for trying to do too much when he got in traffic.
Bell thinks he grew from the experience, and it was an important lesson to be there at the end of races – as he’s been a lot ever since. pic.twitter.com/dWRZlWJHzn
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) June 1, 2025
The JGR driver would go on to rack up six top 5 finishes in the playoffs, but none of them converted into wins. The gut punch was back-to-back second-place finishes at Charlotte Roval and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Even when Tyler Reddick pulled off that slingshot move on Ryan Blaney in Homestead, he was right behind the lead pack in P4. The #20 team had the speed, but they just couldn’t close out the deal. So, heading back to the Music City, Bell will look to make amends for his past mistake and ensure a good point finish. With three wins already in the bag, Bell isn’t under pressure to deliver. But the same cannot be said for his teammate, Chase Briscoe, who is making sure he has all the advantage heading into Sunday’s main event.
Chase Briscoe sets the pace with consecutive poles
While Bell is looking to rewrite his Nashville story, the competition is fiercer than ever, with Chase Briscoe stealing the spotlight during qualifying on May 31, 2025. Briscoe claimed the Busch Light Pole Award for the second consecutive week, edging out his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin by a razor-thin 0.049 seconds to earn the top starting spot for the Cracker Barrel 400.
It’s Briscoe’s third pole of the season, and his speed has set the tone for a race that’s shaping up to be a battle of redemption for drivers like Bell, who are chasing not just a win but a chance to overcome past mistakes. Briscoe’s back-to-back poles are indeed a good sign for the No. 19 team, which is showing that they have good speeds heading into the tough portion of the regular season. The former SHR driver is 11th in the points standings and without a win. Just 45 points away from the cutline, Briscoe will use all the advantage he can get in Nashville.
It is turning out to be a three-way battle between the JGR cars, all of them have the potential to win the race at Nashville Superspeedway.
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