"Everybody is way more aggressive": Christopher Bell reveals the cutthroat dynamic in All-Star Race format

Christopher Bell shed light on the intense competition that's typical of the All-Star race. The Joe Gibbs driver revealed how the 250-mile event encourages drivers to adopt an aggressive approach, largely on account of the substantial purse and the unique race format.

On Sunday, Bell is set to make his third All-Star race appearance at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The non-points exhibition features a unique format with scheduled breaks and an unconventional tire strategy involving both Prime and Option tires.

In addition, the race awards a sizeable prize money of $1 million to the winner. This motivates the drivers to take more risks than they would in a normal points-paying race. Notably, Bell's No.20 JGR racing crew won the pit crew challenge in last year's edition and took home a whopping $100,000 prize money.

Speaking to the media on Friday, May 16, Bell presented his views on how the All-Star race differs from the usual Cup Series bout.

"The format is very unique and obviously the purse is unique as well. So we won't race like it's any other event when the green flag drops. And that's one thing that took me by surprise when I first got into the Cup Series," he said via NASCAR.com

Bell added,

"The All star race is not just another race, like everybody is way more aggressive here than what you see at normal Sunday Cup race and I think everyone has that win-it-or-wear-it attitude and it races differently becasue of that."

Christopher Bell is yet to secure a top-ten finish in an All star race, but the 30-year-old is coming off the heels of a second place finish in Kansas Speedway. As such, he will look to maintain his momentum and post his fourth win of the season in Sunday's race.

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Christopher Bell opens up about winless streak since his dominant form early in the season

Christopher Bell turned heads when he logged the first three-peat in the Next Gen Era this year. Driving the No.20 Toyota Camry, Bell won back-to-back races at Atlanta, the Circuit of The Americas and Phoenix. Since then, the JGR driver has seen a dearth of wins, despite coming close to the feat twice in the last six starts.

Reflecting upon the same, Bell admitted to being surprised by his lack of pace in the intermediate tracks.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m not surprised that we haven’t won because winning is very hard, but I’ve definitely been surprised about just lacking pace on the intermediate tracks.”

Christopher Bell's second place finish in Kansas bumped him three spots in the Driver's standings to land at third. With an impressive record of eight top-ten finishes from 12 starts, the Oklahoma native has garnered a points tally of 384. The record has him four spots ahead of his nearest teammate, Denny Hamlin.