Bell, who started on the pole for the fourth time during the playoffs, found himself chasing race down leader Kyle Larson with 20 of 267 laps remaining in Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
With 10 laps to go, Bell cut Larson’s lead to under one second for the first time, and after briefly falling back, he picked up enormous momentum in the final two laps. He made one last push exiting Turn 4 on the final lap but came up 0.082 seconds short.
The win locked Larson into this year’s Championship 4 and left Bell about where he started the race – as one of the four drivers lowest in points and in danger of title elimination with just two races remaining in the semifinal round.
“I mean, I don’t know what else I could have done, so ... I don’t know,” said a frustrated Bell after the race. “I feel like that was my moment. That was my moment to make the final four. Didn’t quite capture it.
“Coming to the checkered there, I knew that he was going to be blocking, so I’m like I’m going to try to go high. He went high. I don’t even know if I had a run to get by him there coming to the line.
“It just wasn’t enough.”
Bell enters the semifinal round for the second consecutive year at somewhat of a disadvantage to some of the other playoff drivers who had earned more wins and playoff points throughout the course of the year.
He was hoping to avoid a repeat of the need to come through in must-win scenarios this year and so far in the playoffs had been successful.
Losing out on the chance to lock himself in to the title race early is the kind of missed opportunities Bell has said he and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team have fumbled away at times this season.
“A great day, great day for sure to get the stage points, get a second place finish out of it,” said Bell, who sits two points below the transfer line with two races remaining in the semifinal playoff round.
“I think I saw we’re minus two, so we’re not out of it by any means. It would have been nice to lock it in, though.”
