MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Crew chief Adam Stevens has been atop the No. 20 pit box since the 2021 season, and he has watched Christopher Bell deliver 14 wins.
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While wins are great, Stevens has arguably been more impressed by the manner in which Bell has handled the trials and tribulations of this 2026 season, which include self-inflicted mistakes and a significant wrist injury.
"I think just the resilience has really impressed me," Stevens told media members on Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. "It's been a very odd year for us to be as competitive as we've been and really not have a lot of show for it.
"And he still brings his best every single weekend, and has done a much better job, I think, focusing forward. He doesn't get too distracted by whatever happened last week or the week before that, and that's a big part of the sport."
This season, Bell has posted the fourth-most top-10 finishes (18) in the Cup Series. He has posted the second-most top-five finishes. This includes eight runner-up finishes. He won the Southern 500 for the first time in his career.
Bell also raced for several weeks while recovering from a fractured wrist. He completed a race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway after losing power steering, and then he crashed at the entrance of pit road at Talladega while adjusting to the smaller spoiler.
This mistake is one that Bell acknowledged while saying that every other driver in the field avoided it.
"We've been bringing competitive cars, and he's been doing a fantastic job," Stevens continued. "And sometimes that's just not enough.
"And I think it's shown a lot of growth for Bell, especially through his injury and some of the trials and tribulations we've had this year. And I think that's something that's going to pay dividends in his future."
This mental growth will be significant as Bell continues racing in the Cup Series and working with the No. 20 team. It should also benefit the team in the immediate future as it tries to make a near-miraculous comeback to win the championship.
Bell is now fourth in the standings with two races remaining in the Chase. He's 79 points behind leader Kyle Larson, meaning that he will need to win multiple stages and multiple races to end the season as champion. And he will likely need some help in the form of other drivers encountering issues.
Bell will also need this team to stick together as one cohesive unit, something that he believes it has done throughout all of the setbacks this season.
"Our team has really good chemistry right now and were having a good time working together," Bell said. "We have great camaraderie between our mechanics, our engineers, Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and myself.
"Last week was a trying moment for our team. I was really happy with how we all came together. It would have been really easy to tear each other down in that moment and none of us did. I was really proud of our group for last week and how we handled it."
