Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour presented by NASCAR on FOX - Christopher Bell Interview after his win at Phoenix | VICTORY LAP

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Christopher Bell joins Kevin Harvick for ‘Victory Lap’ after securing his third straight NASCAR Cup Series win at Phoenix Raceway! Bell breaks down the winning strategy, reflects on what it means to be in elite company, and shares his thoughts on the significance of this dominant streak. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a competitive car, it really spells out your strategy. And then if you're, you know, a guy that doesn't have the pace to win that day, then you're going to gamble. And you're going to put your tires on earlier. You're going to flip the track position. And if the yellow flag doesn't come out, you're going to look like a hero. If the yellow flag comes out late, you don't have a set of tires laying, then you're not going to win the race, which you weren't going to win the race anyway.

So you might as well do it. Welcome to Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, presented by Echo Park Automotive and NASCAR on Fox. And on this week's victory lap, we have the same guy we've had the last. last two weeks Christopher Bell and you know I think a lot of times you want to mix it up and and have different people on the show but I think in this particular instance with the success that Christopher had and racing against his teammate it'll be interesting to hear his comments about the weekends well bell I can call you by your last name now because you've been on here so many times over the last few weeks that everybody knows knows your first name and they know your last name as

well I mean that was that was a great finish you guys had the had the dominant car And I guess the first question that I would ask is, was your plan to be in the middle of the racetrack, or did you drive in there too far? Tell me about that last corner. Well, the last corner was, I don't even, I didn't have a game plan for the last corner, that's for sure. So, I mean, you know how it is.

Under Yellow, you have time to think about what your strategy is. And I wanted to be on the bottom because I felt like the bottom gave me the best opportunity to be clear whenever I got into turn one. but I knew that if I didn't get clear through one and two, then I was in the losing spot. And coming to the white flag down the back straightaway, I didn't think there's any way I was winning that race. I thought I'd lost it because I didn't get clear by the time we hit turn one.

And then I got a really good stall on him down the front straightaway before the dog leg. And then it kind of gave me a nose ahead. And I'm like, okay, I got to get it in turn one here. Got to get it in deep, slide it up, use the track. and I couldn't believe how much grip Denny had being in the dirty part of the racetrack way up top, especially exiting turn two up high. You always did that really well too.

You would kind of enter low and exit high, but Denny exited really, really high and still got to my quarter panel and then same thing. Like, come down the back straightaway, he's outside of me, and I thought I was in the losing position. And, yeah, so getting into three,

I just drove it in as deep as I could and I got a little bit free in, tight center. And then my spotter, Stevie, made a great call. He said, pull down, pull down. And then Larson, you know, gave me a little boost across the line. And that was a difference maker. Yeah, I was a little surprised that Larson didn't put you guys three wide. But he definitely chose the outside lane there.

They're going down a backstretch and helped Denny out. I'm curious in these situations when we had these situations where we raced against each other a lot, and we had scenarios where we ran into each other. Is that ever a conversation that you've been involved in with Joe Gibbs and teammates? And I'm sure you've witnessed a few of them as you've gone through the years. Is that something that you guys talk about as a group? You're saying specifically, like, racing teammates? Yeah, yeah, racing teammates.

You know, it's pretty interesting. The culture at JGR really is just, I mean, I mean, I guess it's doggy dog world. Like, I mean, we have raised each other so hard. And I've felt wronged by teammates in the past. And, you know, I go and I've talked to Adam about it. And he's like, man, it's just, it's just the way it is. And we've had a lot of conversations about the way that we race each other.

And, you know, I'm not talking about this situation, like the Phoenix race, because I knew that one of us had to win the race. And obviously I wanted it to be me, but going down the back straightaway, coming to the white and the checker flag, when we're side by side, I felt like I was in the losing spot. And I told myself,

I said, no matter what happens, I have to make sure that if I don't win, Denny wins. But with that being said, we race each other so incredibly hard. And I think it's just a history of Joe Gibbs racing, having so many A-level drivers, so many A-level crew chiefs, Like their whole organization is really, you know, they want every car to win.

And there are no team orders to, you know, play nice or let a race play out a certain way. It is, you know, race each other as hard as you can, but be fair and make sure that one of them wins. Yeah, and I think that was always just a, for me, that was just always something that was unique to balance because you always want to. your teammates to be, well, for the most part, you wanted your teammates to be, to be friendly and on your side. But it's, you guys did a great job of managing the last part of it. And both of you coming across the start finish line, it could have gone either way, but it was, it was awesome to watch. As you analyze the weekend, I know for, I would think for you guys that being able to gather some information on both styles of tires, knowing that Goodyear wants to go to the softer

tire as you go back for the championship race, I would imagine that those notes and things will be very useful as you go to the championship race. What was your opinion on the softer tire and even having two tires during the race as to what it created? Yeah, I mean, I'm sure that the red tire is going to be what NASCAR decides to go with for the fall race. That's kind of been their MO, and even from Richmond running the option tire, that was their goal, is to make that the primary. And with that being said, I mean, I hate having two compounds. and where one compound is a significant advantage in the race. And I understand that other forms of motorsports do it, F1 does it, IndyCar does it,

but they also don't have planned yellow flags at the stage breaks like we do, or they don't even have stage breaks, period. And that really spells out the strategy, and it adds a gimmick to the race. Because if you are a competitive car that's racing for the lead, you have a spelled out strategy that you have to do in order, to win the race. And that's, you have to leave a set of tires laying for a late race restart or the last run of the race. And, you know, I guess you could put your other set of red tires on earlier in the race.

But if you're racing for the win, you would want them the last, you know, stage of the race. So for a competitive car, it really spells out your strategy. And then if you're, you know, a guy that doesn't have the pace to win that day, then you're going to gamble. And you're going to put your tires on earlier. You're going to flip the track position. And, um, If the yellow flag doesn't come out, you're going to look like a hero. If the yellow flag comes out late and you don't have a set of tires laying, then you're not going to win the race, which you weren't going to win the race anyway. So you might as well do it. Yeah, that's a great perspective for us to hear.

Last thing. And I always, when I was in these positions and people asked me this question, it was always, I'm not paying attention. But you've won three out of the first four races. And you look at that list, it's Herb Thomas, Bill Elliott, myself. Four out of five, there's one guy. four out of five is Bill Elliott. Do you think about any of that stuff? Because it's not just your normal list.

It's a list that you can count on one hand. That's pretty awesome from a team and driver perspective. Yeah, I mean, that's incredible to hear. And, you know, I'm trying to enjoy the moment and make sure that I, you know, just take it all in. And, you know, enjoy it. It's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I'll be. living my best life and then whenever it gets closer to the weekend, you know, it's going to be all

focused on the task at hand and we'll be starting from scratch. And, you know, I think I told you last week that what happened at Atlanta and Cota had no bearing on Phoenix? Well, what happened at Phoenix this week has no bearing on going to an intermediate mile and a half at Las Vegas in a couple days? So, you know, we'll all be starting from the same baseline again. And the only thing is difference is that my pick crew members, myself driving, Adam Stevens, we definitely have some added confidence. And that's

worth something. Yeah, well, you're darn right. It's worth something. And there's a lot of momentum that, you know, happened a few times in your career that you get to ride that wave and enjoy that success. Well, do you have anything fun while you're out there? I hear race cars in the background. I assume you're at the track still. I stayed at the racetrack tonight or last night. And yes, they have a 12-hour tire test here at Phoenix Raceway that I'm, I was, I was kind of bummed. I didn't get it because it is a super important tire test. But yeah, I'm happy that I'm not in a fire suit testing right now for 12 hours straight. All right. Well, if this doesn't all pan out next week, it's your fault. You're sitting in a different spot. But congratulations. And if we

talk to you again, it'll be, it'll be a great story. You're doing a great job and keep it up. Thank you, Kevin. I appreciate that.