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Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was in high spirits after winning the Shriners Children's 500 at Phoenix Raceway and engaged in a light-hearted conversation with veteran Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass.
Pockrass, a popular name in the NASCAR community, regularly shares his race predictions every race day. Last weekend, the 57-year-old reporter chose William Byron to win the race and didn't put Bell in the top five contenders.
He wrote on X (formerly Twitter) last Sunday:
"My Cup pick for today at Phoenix: William Byron ... top-5: Byron Blaney Gibbs Hamlin Logano ... longshot: Jones"
Bell playfully teased Bob Pockrass about his race predictions during the post-race press conference. The 28-year-old driver joked about the veteran reporter's predictions for the Phoenix weekend and said (via The Kenny Wallace show):
"Bob, Christopher Bell, NASCAR driver, did you pick me today?... Bob's picks are notoriously the worst. If he picks you, or at least me, if he picks me I don't win."
Incidentally, Pockrass had predicted Christopher Bell to win the race at Las Vegas, however, a flat tire relegated him to a 33rd-place finish. When the Fox Sports reporter brought up his Las Vegas predictions, Bell replied:
"I know, I know and I sucked. I'll own it, yeah... Well you picked me, so you jinxed me."
The new Toyota Camry XSE was in a different league at Phoenix Raceway, with Toyota drivers leading 298 of the 312-lap race. Ty Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, and Tyler Reddick were at the front during the first half of the race.
Christopher Bell's #20 JGR team seemingly nailed the setup as the race unfolded with Bell dominating the second half of the event and winning by over 5.46 seconds. This was the biggest margin in the Next-Gen era, to upset Bob Pockrass's predictions.
Toyota chief hails Christopher Bell's victory at Phoenix Raceway
Christopher Bell became the first Toyota driver to park the new Camry XSE in the victory lane following the dominant outing at Phoenix Raceway.
Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson termed the victory a 'momentous win' for the organization after having struggled at the highly significant venue.
"For Toyota, this was a momentous win. This was the first win with our new Camry body. I was clear to say at the beginning of the year that we have struggled here recently," Wilson said via motorsport.com.
"Today we led everything but 14 laps. That’s a credit to the Joe Gibbs organization, TRD USA and Calty Design, who helped us with this new Camry body."
The TRD president also praised Christopher Bell and the #20 JGR team for securing the race win. Wilson added that there is a lot to unpack from the new car's performance on different ovals to evaluate the true pecking order between manufacturers.
"Certainly, what we’ve seen four races in validates a lot of our optimism, but we have a whole lot of racing to go, more intermediate (tracks), more big tracks and short tracks to truly evaluate where we are."
