Christopher Bell tells new JGR team he’s ‘going to be a change of pace from Kyle’

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Christopher Bell told his new crew chief to get ready for a change. He’s not Kyle Busch.

“Our first meeting that we had together, I said, ‘Well, I can promise you that I’m going to be a change of pace from Kyle because my demeanor inside the car is a lot different than what Kyle’s is,’ ” Bell said.

NASCAR fans probably won’t hear Bell cursing out his team over the radio or bowing amid cheers and boos after a win. Bell said his team should expect a “soft-spoken” driver in the No. 20 car next year when he joins Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series working with Busch’s former championship-winning crew chief, Adam Stevens.

The mechanics and engineers — but not the car chief — also will move from Busch’s No. 18 car to work with Bell and No. 20.

The No. 18 pit crew will remain with Busch. From an organization standpoint, it’s a big step up for 26-year-old Bell, who raced the No. 95 Toyota for Leavine Family Racing’s single-car operation during his first season in the Cup Series. After the team announced it was shutting down in 2021 due to the pandemic, Gibbs tapped Bell over Erik Jones to drive the No. 20 in the new season.

Bell said he knows the pressure is on.

“We need to win,” Bell said. “And being at Joe Gibbs Racing, his expectations are to have four championship-caliber teams. So at some point if we’re not a championship-caliber team, I don’t expect to be at Joe Gibbs Racing.”

The organization seems to be relying in part on a shuffling of team personnel in the hopes of reversing course after a subpar 2020 season in which just one of its four Cup drivers, Denny Hamlin, earned more than one win. Ben Beshore, a former Xfinity crew chief for JGR, will work with Busch next season as Stevens transitions to Bell’s No. 20 team.

Stevens has won 28 races and two championships in the Cup Series, all of them with Busch. Bell is entering his second Cup season without any wins and just two top-five finishes (seven top 10s) during a pandemic that will continue to limit practice and qualifying sessions. He isn’t making excuses.

“I think that Joe Gibbs Racing is obviously a powerhouse team, and they’re focused on getting back to where they were in 2019,” Bell said.

Pit stops especially are where he said he expects the greatest competitive difference from his last season. Bell said that while the No. 95 team was hoping, not necessarily expecting, to win a race, he felt like the team under-performed in terms of top finishes and racing up front. Of the rookie class, Bell led the second-most laps (18) behind Tyler Reddick (30).

“Richmond was a great example for us,” Bell said. “Kyle (Busch) had to start in the back with me and we started side-by-side, and by the competition yellow, I passed 10 cars and Kyle passed 10 cars. … And then we come down pit road and he’s five cars up and I’m five cars back.”

He said the pit crew change with the No. 20 team should be a “huge help” and noted that Texas, Pocono and Indy were races where he felt like the car was fast and capable of running in the top five, but either he or the crew let opportunities slip by.