NASCAR Cup Series: Christopher Bell’s wait pays off

Christopher Bell’s wait to be promoted to the NASCAR Cup Series paid off in the form of a ride with Leavine Family Racing, and with an enhanced technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing as well.

Christopher Bell, a NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie at the time, stated last August that he felt he was ready to be promoted to the Cup Series.

Not many people disagreed with him.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s driver of the #20 Toyota ended up setting a rookie record with seven victories, also a series-high, in the 2018 Xfinity Series season en route to an appearance in the Championship 4, where he ultimately came up short of winning the title at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Joe Gibbs Racing had previously announced that they would be forming a technical alliance with Leavine Family Racing in the Cup Series ahead of the 2019 season, as Leavine Family Racing had switched manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota.

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Furniture Row Racing, which had a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing since the 2016 season at the time, had announced that they would be shutting down operations once the 2018 season concluded.

It was clear that none of Joe Gibbs Racing’s four Cup Series seats were open for the 24-year-old Norman, Oklahoma native, but Leavine Family Racing had the seat of the #95 Toyota open.

But instead of promoting the 2017 Truck Series champion to the Cup Series, the team signed Matt DiBenedetto. Bell ultimately stayed with Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2019 Xfinity Series season.

Bell has, once again, proven he belongs in the Cup Series this year. Through the first 27 races of the 33-race season, he has earned a series-high seven victories, and he is practically a shoe-in for the Championship 4 once again.

And now he is set to get his chance to truly shine.

DiBenedetto confirmed in August that Leavine Family Racing would not retain him for the 2020 season, and at that point, Bell was tipped to land with the team. There were rumors that he would replace Erik Jones at Joe Gibbs Racing, but Jones was adamant that he and the team would reach a contract extension, which they did.

Now Bell has been confirmed by Leavine Family Racing for the 2020 season.

In itself, this is a good step up for Bell. In their first season with a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing, Leavine Family Racing have shown improvement.

In the first 15 races of the season, DiBenedetto finished no higher than 12th place, and his average finish was 24.47. But in the most recent 13 races, he has recorded six top eight finishes, including a career-high finish of second and two other top five finishes, and an average finish of 12.77.

Driving for Leavine Family Racing, Bell could be a playoff contender, possibly a contender for a race victory.

That is, in 2019.

But he is set to drive for the team in 2020, and that additional year of waiting could pay even bigger dividends for Bell.

Leavine Family Racing’s technical alliance with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing is set to be enhanced ahead of the 2020 season, and Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson stated that this enhanced technical alliance will be “akin to what we had between TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing a couple of years ago”.

In the three seasons of the technical alliance between Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing, Martin Truex Jr. won 16 races, second only to Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, who won 17. He qualified for the Championship 4 in two of these three seasons, and he won the 2017 championship.

Leavine Family Racing aren’t as established of a team as Furniture Row Racing were when they formed their technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing, but the improvement that they have shown throughout the 2019 season shows that they are ready to take that next step.

By spending an extra season in the Xfinity Series, Bell has put himself in a position to be the driver to take full advantage of that next step.

What will Christopher Bell accomplish in his first NASCAR Cup Series season driving the #95 Toyota for Leavine Family Racing? How many races will he win, and how far will he advance through the playoffs, provided he qualifies for them?

The 2020 season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, February 16 with the 62nd annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. This race is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.