NASCAR star Christopher Bell admits shock over change to team

NASCAR Cup Series star Christopher Bell has revealed that a sudden change to his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing crew caught him by surprise this week.

Ahead of the Coca Cola 600, it was revealed that Bell would have a new spotter starting at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend, with Stevie Reeves out and Matt Philpott in.

Changing spotter mid-season is not the norm, especially after the team have won so many races this season, including last weekend's All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Now, when quizzed on the change by NASCAR media at Charlotte, Bell said: "I was surprised as well,"

"It was all Stevie," Bell added. "He made the decision to quit."

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Why did Christopher Bell's crew chief quit?

Whilst Bell says the news is a surprise to him, The Athletic's Jordan Bianchi has suggested that Reeves jumped before he was going to be pushed at the end of the season.

Speaking on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Bianchi said: "I understand that he quit. He did quit now, but this decision goes back further than that."

"I’ve been told by people involved in it that Stevie Reeves had been told that at the end of the year, they were going to be parting ways. Stevie knew this and just said, ‘If that’s the case, I’m out and I’m out now.'"

Speaking on his new crew chief Philpott, Bell explained that whilst he has nothing against him, he wouldn't have been high on his list of candidates were they not in a tough situation.

“He doesn’t have a ton of spotting experience,” Bell told the media at Charlotte.

“Nothing against Philpott, but he wouldn’t have been high on the list with his experience level if we weren’t in this situation, but with that being said, he is trying to get into the spotter scene, and it made sense to go that direction.

“I think he did the Martin Truex car in the Daytona 500, so he had his foot in the door with our company. It just made sense to give him a shot. We are not doing him a favor. He is doing us a favor by filling in.”

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