Christopher Bell ends stage points drought with stage win at Dover amid early race setback

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell ended his stage point drought during Challenge Four, the AutoTrader EcoPark Automotive 400 at Dover Motor Speedway on July 20, 2025. Despite spinning twice during the 400-mile event, Bell avoided major damage and landed a stage win.

The #20 Toyota Camry XSE driver had a decent qualifying session and secured a P3 finish, one spot behind his teammate, Chase Briscoe. He then jumped a spot and wrapped stage one in P2 behind Hendrick Motorsports driver Chase Elliott. Following the pace, Bell took the lead and won stage two, snapping his stage win drought.

Christopher Bell was battling for the lead with Chase Elliott on the first lap of the third stage but unfortunately spun out. Following the same, he got spun again with just eight laps to go and steered clear of any wrecks.

The #20 driver rejoined the race and finished the 400-lap race in P18, leading 67 laps. Reflecting on the same, the JGR driver told the Frontstretch media (via YouTube):

"Yeah, it's just refreshing to have speed again. You know, we haven't had pace. And today we were able to lead laps, get stage points, won a stage. So, that is something that I'm super excited about and proud of. Even though I made mistakes and I spun out whenever I probably shouldn't have spun out, you know, we're going for the win." [00:07 onwards]

"And yeah, if we just keep bringing speed like that to the racetrack, then we're going to be just fine. It's, you know, that's been a long time coming. I haven't scored stage points in a long time, let alone won a stage. I think that's my first stage win of the year," he added.

Christopher Bell ranks sixth in the Cup Series points table with 635 points to his name. He has secured three wins, 12 top-ten finishes, and eight top-five finishes with one pole position in 21 starts this season.

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"The teams and the drivers have to take it seriously": Christopher Bell got candid on the increasing road course races in NASCAR

NASCAR Cup Series driver Christopher Bell has had a dominating start to the 2025 season. He has secured three wins in 21 starts, with one coming on a road course, the Circuit of the Americas.

Following that, Bell expressed his views on the same and told FrontStretch Media:

"I'm good with it... I like it. It's enough now where the teams and the drivers have to take it seriously. Before, whenever it was only Sonoma and Watkins Glen, you had a lot of teams that didn't take the road courses seriously and didn't put a lot of effort into it." [2:35 onwards]

"But now with so many road courses, you have to be good at them if you want any chance at doing well in the season standings," added Christopher Bell.

The next race on a road course is scheduled for Sunday, August 10, 2025, at Watkins Glen International. USA, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Ch 90, and HBO Max will cover the 90-lap event live at 2 pm ET.