Bristol could be the cure to this NASCAR Cup driver's quiet start to 2026

As the NASCAR Cup Series returns to action following the Easter break, the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway will present a stiff challenge on Sunday.

Chase Elliott enters as the series' most recent winner at Martinsville Speedway and had the benefit of the extra week off to try and build on that momentum. Points leader Tyler Reddick had his worst finish of the season in 15th at the "Paperclip", but he has had a start unlike any other in the history of the sport.

Neither driver has had much success at Bristol, but there are certain drivers in the series who excel at the half-mile bullring and seem to always be around when a win is on the line.

While most would point to Kyle Larson, and rightfully so, considering the fact that the Hendrick Motorsports driver has won two of three most recent races in Thunder Valley and led a total of 873 laps, Christopher Bell could be poised to compete for his first win of the season on Sunday.

Christopher Bell has been stout at Bristol in Next Gen era

Highlighted by his win in the 2025 fall race, Bell is the only driver to finish top 10 in all six Bristol races on the track's concrete surface in the Next Gen car, per NASCAR Insights.

Prior to that stretch, Bell only had a best finish of ninth in his first four starts at Bristol and led one lap. In the six Next Gen starts, Bell has topped 100 laps led twice and found the front of the field in four of the six races. He also tends to qualify well at the "Last Great Colosseum" with one pole (2023) and seven starts inside the top 10.

It is not like Bell has been terrible this season, but one year removed from winning three of the first four races, it has not been the start that he would have hoped for.

Bell has three finishes of 19th or worse, but he also has three top four finishes and another seventh place finish. His most impressive performance came at Phoenix Raceway, where he led 176 laps, only to fall one spot short to Ryan Blaney. He's seventh in points, but that's only good for third of the four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers.

Bell is one of several drivers entering Bristol still in search of his first win in 2026, but as dominant as someone like Larson has been there, the fact that Bell is the only driver with a top 10 finish in each of the six most recent Bristol races speaks volumes.

In addition to the new rules package making its debut on the Bristol high banks, Goodyear is set to provide teams with new ride-side and left-side tires designed to perform well in changing weather conditions. While the forecast looks great all weekend in Bristol, it has always been a temperature-dependent track that has especially challenged drivers in the Next Gen era.

If 2024 and 2025 are any indication, Sunday's race could be unpredictable from a tire standpoint as drivers and teams get accustomed to the new combination and continue to get familiar with the new package. However, Bell has consistently been one of the best drivers in the series at Bristol, so it would not be a surprise at all if he is battling for the win in the closing laps.