Bell close to home for round of 12

Christopher Bell has been one of the most consistent drivers in NASCAR’s playoffs this season, and now gets to start the next round close to home. None of the playoff contenders won any of the three races that opened this postseason, a first for any round since the current format for determining the Cup champion began in 2014. But Bell was the only driver that finished in the top five each of those weeks, while Denny Hamlin, his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, was a runner-up twice before a ninth-place finish. After cutting four drivers from the playoff field, NASCAR opens the round of 12 on Sunday at the 1 ½-mile Texas Motor Speedway. The Oklahoma native Bell looks at it as his home track, and he finished third there in each of the last two fall races during his first Cup seasons. “It’s one of my best tracks, so it would have been nice to have it in the round of eight, but hopefully we can capitalize on that and get out of the first race of the round of 12 with a good points day, if not a race win,” said Bell, who is seventh in the standings.