MARTINSVILLE, Va. — For the second season in a row, Christopher Bell stood on pit road after an elimination race at Martinsville Speedway. And for the second time, he failed to advance due to a Hendrick Motorsports driver taking his spot in the Championship 4.
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This time, however, Bell did not feel robbed. He experienced an entirely different range of emotions.
"I mean, I probably feel better about it this time around," Bell told FanBuzz after his elimination from the playoffs. "Obviously, it was all in our hands this time, and we didn't perform, and we got beat. The faster car got in."
This season's Round of 8 played out eerily similar to 2024, starting with Bell posting a top-three finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway while another playoff driver punched his ticket to the Championship 4.
Last year, it was Kyle Larson. This year, it was Denny Hamlin.
"Kind of déjà vu as last year," Bell said after finishing third at Las Vegas. "Just we were off a little bit at the beginning of the race, obviously got going pretty good there the second half of the race.
"I felt like at the second half, I had what I needed to go out there and win. I just didn't do a good job on the restarts, didn't get through there. I don't know. Feels a lot like last year. Hopefully, we can execute the next two a little bit better than last year."
Unfortunately for Bell, the semifinal round continued playing out in the same matter as it did last season. It just featured slightly less drama.
He scored a top-10 finish in the second race of the round while another playoff driver took a spot in the Championship 4. Last year, Tyler Reddick won at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This year, Chase Briscoe won at Talladega Superspeedway.
Last season, he watched his points cushion evaporate at Martinsville Speedway as a driver below the cutline, Ryan Blaney, won the elimination race. He then missed out on the Championship 4 due to a penalty for a safety violation. William Byron advanced to Phoenix despite Chevrolet teammates manipulating the race's outcome.
This season, Bell entered Martinsville third in the playoff standings. He had a 37-point cushion to the cutline and a one-point advantage over Larson. All he needed to do was outperform the Hendrick Motorsports driver to advance.
Bell and the No. 20 team fell short of this goal. He just didn't have the speed or handling in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota that he needed to navigate easily through the field.
"At times, we could get the center good, but then on exit I would start struggling on the long run," he said. "So just whenever we had the balance where it needed to be, I struggled on the long run. Or I guess I struggled on the long run the whole time. So, we just weren't fast enough."
Bell still finished inside the top 10 at Martinsville Speedway after scoring 11 stage points. Larson just delivered a better performance in the elimination race.
The 2021 Cup Series champion scored 17 stage points, giving him a six-point advantage entering the final stage of the race. He then avoided issues on pit road and on-track incidents. Larson finished the race in fifth place and advanced to the Championship 4 over Bell.
Only one of these two drivers could make it to the final round of the playoffs due to Byron dominating and winning from below the cutline.
Larson's points advantage became too big of a hurdle for Bell to overcome, so for the second season in a row, he missed out on a chance to compete for a Cup Series title despite having the third-most wins in the series.
"We weren't strong enough at Martinsville this weekend," Bell said. "We practiced in the teens, qualified in the teens and kind of raced back there most of the day.
"I feel content with the results, the four who are going there are legitimate contenders and whoever the champion is will be well deserved. The 20 team just wasn't good enough."
