Joe Gibbs Racing driver “for sure” wants to run the Indy 500 but circumstances won’t allow

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell has expressed his eagerness to compete in the Indianapolis 500, provided his manufacturer Toyota returns to the open-wheel racing scene. When questioned before the NASCAR Awards Ceremony about his desire to field an IndyCar entry, Bell was all for it. However, given the circumstances, it won't be feasible for him to materialize the plan.

Toyota contested in the IndyCar Series from 2003 to 2005 but hasn't returned to the scene since. Even though the manufacturer has preserved the cars and engines used decades ago and reportedly evaluated IndyCar's latest engine platform, no concrete revelation about a return has been made.

However, Bell made it clear that if Toyota were to field an IndyCar entry, he would be the first to raise his hand.

“Yeah, for sure. If Toyota was interested in that, I would be raising my hand to do it. They haven’t been (just) a huge part of my career, they have been my career. They have literally taken me from childhood semi-professional or amateur racing all the way to the Cup Series so I would love that. I would love if they would do it, and I’d be the first one to raise my hand to do it," the 29-year-old said via Sportsnaut.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver highlighted that running for a different manufacturer is not feasible at the moment, but still pointed out a brewing interest.

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Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell said he felt "cheated" for being ineligible to fight in the championship battle

Christopher Bell concluded his fifth full-time Cup Series season at the Phoenix Raceway. The #20 Toyota driver has collected nine wins from 180 races but is yet to lift the Cup Series trophy.

Bell was close to his maiden title but his final lap wall ride move at Martinsville Speedway destroyed his bid. The JGR driver initially advanced to the Championship 4 race as a title contender but NASCAR intervened. The governing body levied a penalty on the driver, disqualifying him from the playoffs, making way for William Byron.

The race became notorious for the controversies that resulted in $600,000 in fines for race manipulation by Chevrolet and Toyota. Bell said during the championship weekend that Chevy's race fixing forced him to make the mistake of hitting the wall, which ruined his championship bid.

"I feel cheated we're out of a chance to compete for a championship. It all stems from what happened 15 to 20 to go whenever the race got fixed and manipulated by Chevrolet that forced our hands to do what we did, and ultimately it forced me into a mistake on the last lap to get to the wall. I feel like I should never have been in that position, had their race been run fairly," the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said (0:45).

Notably, neither of the Joe Gibbs Racing drivers -Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell could make it to the Championship Race.