Don't look now, but it could be time for Christopher Bell to put another streak together after winning Saturday's Bristol Night Race.
While the aggressive tire wear was not an immediate fix to the short track package and led to some in the industry such as Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Rudy Fugle questioning what the goal of the tire was coming into the weekend, Bell persevered through it all to pick up his fourth win of the season.
Bell was the talk of the garage earlier this season, winning three races in a row at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway), Circuit of the Americas, and Phoenix Raceway. He has had some good runs since then, but his only other win between Phoenix in March and Bristol more than six months later was the non-points All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro in May.
Although teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin won the opening two playoff races at Darlington Raceway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, respectively, Bell's seventh place finish at Gateway was his only top 10 in the four races leading up to Bristol, and it even sparked a rare outburst on his team radio as he disagreed with the way the pit strategy played out.
All signs points to another run from Christopher Bell
Bell's Bristol Night Race win capped an opening round sweep for Joe Gibbs Racing, but it might only be the beginning of another strong run from the 30-year-old. He may not enter the round of 12 as the points leader, but he does have a 20-point edge over the round of 8 cut line heading to arguably his best track on the circuit in New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Bell has made five starts at the "Magic Mile" and has three top two finishes, including two wins in the three most recent races. He led a career-high 149 laps there in 2024 and has remarkably won all four of his Xfinity Series starts at the one-mile flat track.
Even if the wins don't come consecutively this time, don't expect Bell to go away anytime soon. Kansas Speedway is scheduled to host the second race of the round of 12, and Bell was runner-up there in the spring. He had also won three straight Kansas poles entering the spring race, despite not owning any wins at the 1.5-mile track.
If Bell happens to face some adversity to make it to the round of 8, a win at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval should not be counted out either. After all, he took the checkered flag in the 2022 race in a must-win situation, proving he can deliver in clutch moments when forced to do so.
No one is truly safe, and one mistake from a driver or crew could immediately change the trajectory of their outlook. However, Bell has already shown that he can be streaky and win on multiple types of layouts, making him a threat in the round of 12 and beyond as he returns to tracks where he has had past success.