Christopher Bell was in the Championship 4 for 27 minutes before NASCAR removed him due to a safety violation, citing his accidental wall-ride. But what led up to that moment is what has Bell frustrated several days later.
“I feel cheated," said Bell. "I feel cheated out of a chance to compete for a championship. It all stems from what happened earlier – 15, 20 to go, whenever the race got fixed, and manipulated by Chevrolet, that forced our hands to do what we did and ultimately, it forced me into a mistake on the last lap to get into the wall.
"I feel like I should have never been in that situation had the race been ran fairly, the 24 [William Bryon] would have lost enough spots to get me into the final race.”
"I could very clearly see the race manipulation"
In the closing laps of the race, a rolling blockade formed behind the struggling Byron with the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet of Ross Chastain and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet of Austin Dillon. Bell only made his way in after passing the ailing Toyota of Bubba Wallace in the final corner, but throttling up after sliding into the wall cost him a spot in the final four.
Later in the week, NASCAR penalized the teams of Wallace, Dillon, and Chastain with points deductions, fines totaling $600,00 and nine key personnel suspended.
“I could very clearly see the race manipulation and the race fixing that was going on," declared Bell. Once he was informed of Byron bleeding positions on older tires, Bell was confident he would make it in. But of course, that are came to an abrupt end once two Chevrolets caught up to the No. 24. Based on the lack of penalty to Byron, it's likely Bell would be in the final four if he simply came off the wall. He gained no ground doing it and wasn't in immediate jeopardy of losing another spot with Wallace falling behind.
"This has been one of the hardest things that I have had to go through as a race car driver," admitted Bell. "I believe cheated is the right word. We go through sessions at the beginning of the year to make sure that we don’t do this, and that unfortunately, is what happened, and I was on the losing side of it.”
If Bell does manage to win this weekend, it will certainly be bittersweet with the reality of what could have been. "It is definitely going to be tough. No matter how it goes. You want to do well, and we are going to put our best foot forward to do well, but if we do well, and have a successful weekend, then it is going to be even more of bummer and a disappointment, so yeah, it is a very perplexing feeling going into this weekend, and one that I hope I never have again.”
While he wouldn't offer an opinion on the punishments for the other drivers, he still disagrees with NASCAR's penalty against him, believing "the rule language needs to be a little bit more clearly defined, and less [of a] gray area."
