TRAMEL'S TAKE
Get ready for college football games with empty stadiums this season
Christopher Bell views the restart to the NASCAR Cup season as a reboot for his team.
The rookie Cup driver from Norman hadn't met his standards prior to the season being shut down in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Horrible,” Bell said of the season's first four races. “It's been a horrible season so far. But I' m hoping this break has given my team time to recoup and maybe come back stronger.
“We're all in it together, and I've definitely done my part of focusing on what I can do better behind the wheel to get better results going forward.”
The NASCAR Cup Series will be the first major pro sports entity in the United States to resume competition, with four Cup races in an 11-day span beginning at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at D arlington Raceway in South Carolina, televised by Fox.
Fans won't be in the stands, but Bell knows they're hungry for racing once again.
“Believe me, all of us are ready to get back to the real thing ,” said Bell, the first full-time Cup driver ever from Oklahoma. “It feels like it's been forever since I've been in my Cup car. It's gonna be very, very different.
“When we go down to Darlington on Sunday, there's no practice, no qualifying. We' re literally gonna show up, get in the car and take the green flag. It'll be different than anything any of us have ever experienced, but I think it's gonna provide great entertainment for the fans.”
“When we go down to Darlington on Sunday, there's no practice, no qualifying. We're literally gonna show up, get in the car and take the green flag. It'll be different than anything any of us have ever experienced, but I think it's gonna provide great entertainment for the fans.”
Christopher Bell
Through four races, Bell is 32nd in Cup points, with his best finish 21st at the Daytona 500.
Bell has run only two races at Darlington, but both were in the Xfinity Series. He'll have to learn on the fly in his No. 95 Cup car of Levine Family Racing. But that is nothing new in his dirt- track background. And with no practice time, others might be searching for the right setup in their cars as well.
“I think we'll see a lot more lead changes, different guys being good at different times of the race,” Bell said. “I think it's gonna be a good show.
“It's one of the tracks that I have the l east experience at, but at the same time, it's a track that I really enjoy. I don't have the experience of Kyle Busch or Kevin Harvick,
but the track being difficult, being slick, that will play into my hands a little more.”
The Cup drivers will be back at it again Wednesday at Darlington, then will have race sat Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24 and May 27.
After that, the Cup series has five more races scheduled from May 31-June 21, slowly branching out farther from the sport's epicenter in Charlotte.
“I' ve always been a proponent of racing more and practicing less ,” Bell said. “Hopefully this schedule is a success, and we're able to have a little bit less practice time and more actual racing.”