RICHMOND, Va. — Christopher Bell’s results have fallen into a familiar pattern this summer.
Second-place finishes in four of the past five NASCAR Cup Series races have felt like a “kick to the gut” for the driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota.
However, those disappointments are always followed by a shot in the arm.
“Whenever Monday, Tuesday rolls around, you’re like, ‘Ahh, it was a pretty darn good day,'” Bell said before practice Friday at Richmond Raceway. “Ultimately, the results that we’ve gotten have meant a lot more this year than what they have in my entire Cup career.”
That’s because NASCAR has restructured its championship system this season with the return of the Chase, which emphasizes accumulating points through solid finishes.
Though in a 30-race winless streak, Bell is a lock to make the 16-driver field for the postseason and a threat to win the 10-race title run. Heading into Saturday night’s 400-lap event at Richmond Raceway, he’s sixth in the points standings with seven second-place finishes, tying Harry Gant’s 1981 record for most runner-up finishes without a victory in a single season.
During NASCAR’s previous title format from 2014-25, Bell might not have been a contender. Drivers relied on wins to qualify for the playoffs and advance through four rounds to win the title, but that’s all gone in the Chase.
“It’s been nice to stack some good results together, and we’re performing really well right now,” said Bell, who’s in his sixth Cup Series season with JGR and seventh overall. “I certainly feel like we’re in the mix.”
He will try to maintain the momentum at Richmond despite the loss of pit selection and the ejection of car chief Chris Sherwood after Bell’s car failed inspection twice Friday.
It’s been that kind of eventful season for Bell, who sustained a broken wrist in the June 7 race at Michigan International Speedway, the result of a crash that registered as the most violent in five seasons of NASCAR’s Next Gen car.
He drove through the injury and healed quickly, ranking among the fastest on the circuit despite coming up just short at the checkered flag. This past Sunday at Iowa Speedway, he lost to teammate Ty Gibbs when the handling on the No. 20 Toyota kept fading within striking distance of the lead over the final 50 laps.
“There were a couple times that I pushed really hard to try and make up ground, but the moment that I got there, I started sliding around and would fall back again,” Bell said. “There wasn’t really any way for me to even move him out of the way without seriously jeopardizing both of us. If I would have tried to make any sort of contact, it was going to make my car jump sideways.”
Bell, whose career-best finish at Richmond was second in August 2022, tries to avoid bumping drivers to gain position anyway. But he added that he won’t settle for taking the points over challenging for a win with just two regular-season races remaining after Saturday night’s run at the 0.75-mile D-shaped oval.
“The standings and where you’re at in points is super important, but the entire previous championship format was very much win or bust,” he said. “I think that mentality is still engraved in at least my mind and probably most of the industry’s mind, but in all reality, it’s not win or bust anymore.
“You have to have good, consistent, strong runs every single week, and that’s what we’re doing. Unfortunately, we haven’t got to victory lane, but we’ve been running really well.”
He’s not the only one.
Josh Berry said he’s “racing for my career,” and the Wood Brothers Racing driver has performed under pressure lately. He is coming off a fourth-place showing at Iowa Speedway, marking the team’s first top-five finish on a short track since Ricky Rudd in August 2005 at Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway.
Berry, who was seventh a week earlier in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has consecutive top-10 finishes for the first time this season.
Wood Brothers Racing announced two months ago that Berry will be replaced in the No. 21 Ford by Jesse Love next year, and Berry said this week he has made little progress since then on finding a job for next season.
“I can’t do much else other than just try to have days like we’ve had the last couple of weeks,” said the 35-year-old from Tennessee. “If we turn this deal around and run like we have in the top five and top 10, and nothing materializes, I kind of feel it shows more about the system than it does about me.”
There are few places for Berry to land in the Cup Series, and another potential opening disappeared Friday.
Front Row Motorsports announced a contract extension with Noah Gragson through 2027 with options to continue beyond next year. Gragson, who is 31st in the points standings with only one top-10 finish this year, is in his second season with the team.
Blaney up front again
Ryan Blaney can’t fully explain his recent dominance in qualifying, but he attributed Mother Nature with an assist Friday at Richmond Raceway.
The Team Penske driver captured his third pole position in the past five races and the 16th of his Cup Series career, turning a lap in 22.225 seconds (121.485 mph) in the No. 12 Ford at the Virginia short track. Blaney was the second-to-last driver to make an attempt, and a cloud late in the session cooled the track for better grip and faster speeds.
“I appreciate the cloud,” said Blaney, who also qualified first last week at Iowa Speedway and last month at EchoPark Speedway. “I got the benefit.”
Blaney, who has been a full-time Cup Series drivers since 2016 and won the 2023 season’s title, already has a career-best four pole positions for a single season and is tied with points leader Denny Hamlin of JGR for the series lead in 2026.
“I wouldn’t specify myself as a very good qualifier,” Blaney said. “For a little bit I struggled in qualifying, just not really able to find the one-lap speed and kind of doing the wrong things behind the wheel. But I think (crew chief) Jonathan (Hassler) and I have just worked through how we can get better and adjust from the end of practice to the start of qualifying. It’s been fun to work through that.”
Chase Briscoe qualified second in the JGR No. 19 Toyota, followed by Berry in the No. 21 Ford, Gibbs in the No. 54 Toyota and William Byron in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet.
Hamlin, who has five Cup Series career wins at Richmond, which he considers his home track, qualified 14th. His 2016 victory is the most recent Cup Series win from the pole at Richmond.
Blaney is cautiously optimistic his qualifying speed will transfer to the race on a track where the the pace drops sharply as tires wear.
“With the tire falloff being so vast, one lap is so much different here than a 50-to-70-lap run,” Blaney said. “I’ve been on the side of qualifying really well here and just tanked in the race, But I feel like in practice, my long-run pace was pretty good. The ebbs and flows here, a lot of comers and goers, that’s the beauty of this place.”
Tyler Reddick qualified 32nd after spinning in practice. It’s the worst starting spot since March 2023 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the 23XI Racing driver, who has finished 25th or worse in six of the past nine races while falling from first to fourth in the points standings.
Hamlin, who grew up about 20 minutes from the track, is the favorite, followed by Bell, Blaney and Gibbs.
Richmond will return to the Chase next season, opening the 10-race championship run for the first time. The track hosted the regular-season finale from 2004-17 and was part of the playoffs from 2018-21.