There were 16 regular season races winners in 2022, and a total of 19 drivers found victory lane before the NASCAR Cup Series season concluded. In 2023, there were "only" 15 winners, still a massive number for a 36-race season, and in 2024, that number jumped back up to 17.
Parity and the Next Gen era have gone hand in hand, to the point where some fans have argued that the series is far too even, and that the Gen 7 machinery has lessened the potential for a driver's true talent to shine through.
Enter Christopher Bell and the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team.
In the current car, were never supposed to see a driver win three races in a row, or so we thought. The last time it happened, it was Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson who won at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Texas Motor Speedway, and Kansas Speedway. It was the final year of the Gen 6 era in 2021.
A few months prior, Larson had actually come just a couple hundred yards away from making it four in a row. A flat tire and subsequent wreck on the final lap at Pocono Raceway, following victories at the Charlotte oval, Sonoma Raceway, and Nashville Superspeedway, robbed him of a spot among the greats in that particular category.
Christopher Bell can become the first in 18 years to win four NASCAR Cup Series races in a row
Now Bell can do what Larson couldn't do and become the first driver to win four races in a row since Jimmie Johnson did so en route to winning the second of his seven championships back in 2007.
Johnson won at Martinsville Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Texas, and Phoenix Raceway. And since that four-race winning streak, the Cup Series had only seen seven three-race winning streaks before Bell's current run at Atlanta, Circuit of the Americas, and Phoenix, three race tracks that have absolutely nothing in common.
Kyle Busch pulled it off in 2015 and 2018, Joey Logano pulled it off in 2015, Kevin Harvick pulled it off in 2018, Brad Keselowski pulled it off in 2018, and Larson pulled it off twice in 2021.
Only eight times in the modern era (1972 to present) has driver won four races in a row. Before Johnson, it hadn't happened since Jeff Gordon pulled it off in 1998. Cale Yarborough did in 1976, Darrell Waltrip in 1981, Dale Earnhardt in 1987, Harry Gant in 1991, Bill Elliott in 1992, and Mark Martin in 1993.
But as cool as it would be to see Bell join that list, there are a couple dozen other drivers who want to prevent history from being made in this Sunday afternoon's Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
At FanDuel Sportsbook, Larson is listed as the favorite to win the 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Las Vegas, Nevada oval, and he is listed at +450. He won at the track in March last year, and he has found victory lane there in three of the past four seasons.
But Bell is close behind at +600, even though he has been dropped to the rear of the field after the No. 20 Toyota changed a throttle body following his 13th place qualifying effort.
He led 155 laps at the track in October, only to finish behind Team Penske's Joey Logano, who made a late decision to gamble with a different fuel strategy. He also finished runner-up behind Larson two years ago in the playoffs, giving him two second place finishes in the three most recent races there.
Full odds can be found here.
Can Bell make history and do something that only eight drivers have done in the last five decades, and can he do it in the most unlikely of eras? Tune in to Fox Sports 1 this Sunday, March 16 at 3:30 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the Pennzoil 400 from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and catch all of the action!