“We were just on the bottom side of that a lot last year”: Christopher Bell’s right-hand man sends a strong message on avoiding a painful pattern

Christopher Bell's crew chief Adam Stevens opens up on avoiding the unwanted feat as his driver heads to tie Jimmie Johnson's record. Bell has three consecutive wins under his belt and is eyeing for a fourth win in Las Vegas on Monday, March 17.

The Joe Gibbs driver began the season in Daytona with a late-race retirement, after getting caught up in a crash between teamate Denny Hamlin and Cole Cluster. In Atlanta, Bell navigated a multi-car incident, to register his first victory of the season. His next win at the Circuit of the Americas(COTA) displayed his road course expertise as he snatched victory from Kyle Busch during the later stages. He then went on to dominate in the short track at Phoenix Speedway, by besting his teamate Denny Hamlin with a thrilling final-lap battle.

His current streak of 3 wins, was last achieved by Larson in 2021 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway and Nashville Superspeedway. As Christopher Bell looks to tie Johnson's record, his crew chief, Adam Stevens expressed concerns over not repeating the previous season's pattern. It was a period where the team went 19 races without a victory after New Hampshire in 2024.

Reflecting on the same, Stevens said,

"You have to put yourself in position," Stevens said. "You can replay any one of those wins, change one or two things. It's not you that day. We were just on the bottom side of that a lot last year after that Loudon win. This year, we're on the other side of it."(via Fox Sports)

Christopher Bell will enter the Las Vegas race, thirteen points behind leader William Byron. If he were to win there, it would make him the first driver in 18 years after Jimmie Johnson to achieve the feat.

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Christopher bell on nearing Jimmie Johnson's record

NASCAR: Shriners Children's 500 - Source: Imagn

Jimmie Johnson,with seven NASCAR cup championships and 83 cup series victories, is widely regarded as one of the sport's all-time greats, alongside Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty. In 2007, during the final races of the season, Johnson secured four consecutive wins, ultimately helping him clinch his second NASCAR Cup championship.

As bell is set to race in the season's fifth race weekend, alongside Hamlin, blaney, logano, busch, and more, who are aiming for their maiden cup win this season, he embraced the challenging affair of matching Johnson's record,

"It's hard to do. I acknowledge that. I'm just kind of in disbelief that I have that opportunity, but I'm looking forward to it." (Via Fox Sports)

Christopher Bell heads into the Las Vegas race with a history of placing second behind Joey Logano last year and crashing the year before. While Bell is ranked second with 152 points, his teamates Denny hamlin, Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe are ranked seventh, thirty fourth and twenty respectively.