NASCAR Cup Series star reveals 'bad news' after playoff win

The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are a Joe Gibbs Racing's world right now - everybody else is just living in it.

The team made it a clean sweep of the three postseason races so far in 2025 as Christopher Bell took the checkered flag at Bristol on Saturday night. Earlier Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin had claimed wins at Darlington and St Louis.

READ MORE: NASCAR Results: Bell triumphs at Bristol in CHAOTIC playoff eliminator

For Bell the moment was extra sweet as he won the Bass Pro Shops Night Race - it came less than a week after he had exploded on team radio after his seventh place at Gateway.

Bell’s frustration had boiled over in the knowledge that his team has the fastest car in the sport right now - the Toyotas driven by Hamlin and Briscoe had filled the top two spots ahead of him. Yet he was down in seventh.

The JGR rolled on into Bristol but this time it was Bell righting the wrongs of the previous week as he excelled in the No. 20 car.

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Christopher Bell on Bristol win

Afterwards the 30-year-old from Norman, Oklahoma emphasized just how good his team’s cars are as the postseason heads into the Round of 12 this weekend.

Asked if the championship would go through his team this year, Bell responded: “I mean, it sure appears to be that way. It’s just all the Toyotas are super fast right now. I think I said it last week in my post-race interview that this is the best race cars I’ve had to drive in the Cup Series compared to the competition in my career.

“I think it goes from Joe Gibbs Racing to 23XI; they’ve been really good; even the legacy cars have had an amazing performance the last couple weeks. That’s the good news.”

As that line suggests, Bell then had a very important note of caution to end his postrace interview. Those Toyotas might be flying now, but the title will not be decided until Phoenix in early November.

There is a catch for JGR

He explained: “The bad news is we’re not running Phoenix next week and there’s still a long way to go to get there.

“I can promise you, whenever we get to Phoenix it’s not going to be a runaway. No matter who’s in that Final Four it’s always a dogfight. It’s always a good race.

“We are in a really good spot right now, we as in the Toyota group, and specifically Joe Gibbs Racing. But we’ve got a long way to go to get to Phoenix and it’s going to be a hard road, and everybody knows that.”

Bell sits fourth in the playoff standings - 20 points about the cutline - as the postseason begins its Round of 12 in New Hampshire on Sunday (2pm ET).

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