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Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell lost the South Point 400, the opening race of Round of 8, to Kyle Larson by 0.082 seconds on Sunday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It was a perfect weekend for Bel,l as he won the pole on Saturday, led 61 laps and cut Larson’s lead to under one second for the first time in the final two laps. However, the #5 car driven by Larson held off Bell to win the race.
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Despite the P2 finish, the result was bittersweet for Christopher Bell, as he knew that he had missed a golden opportunity to advance into the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway.
After the race, Christopher Bell expressed his disappointment in losing to Kyle Larson at the finish.
“I mean, I don’t know what else I could have done, so ... I don’t know,” said a frustrated Bell after the race. I feel like that was my moment. That was my moment to make the final four. Didn’t quite capture it,” Bell said as quoted by motorsport.com.
On what went wrong in the closing lap, Bell added:
“Coming to the checkered there, I knew that he was going to be blocking, so I’m like I’m going to try to go high. He went high. I don’t even know if I had a run to get by him there coming to the line. It just wasn’t enough.”
“We’re not out of it by any means” – Christopher Bell optimistic to lock his final 4 spot
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver believes it was great to finish second and is still optimistic that he and his #20 Toyota team can qualify for the season finale race at Phoenix.
Chirstopher Bell went ahead and put his thoughts on the qualifying scenario with two races left in the semifinal round:
“A great day, great day for sure to get the stage points, get a second place finish out of it. I think I saw we’re minus two, so we’re not out of it by any means. It would have been nice to lock it in, though.”
Christopher Bell sits in fifth place in the points standings with three points below the transfer line with just two races remaining in the Round of 8.
