Christopher Bell “not thinking” about NASCAR three-peat chance at Phoenix

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell says he is not thinking about the prospect of adding a third consecutive victory to his tally in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series.

Bell arrives at Sunday’s Phoenix race on the back of successive wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Circuit of the Americas.

The driver of the #20 Toyota Camry sits a strong fourth in the championship, just 21 points down on championship leader William Byron of Hendrick Motorsports.

Only 28 drivers have achieved a three-peat in the history of the Cup Series, but no one has has enjoyed the same winning streak since the Next Gen car was introduced in 2022.

Kyle Larson was the last driver to win three races in a row in the top division of stock car racing, doing so twice in his championship-winning 2021 season.

Bell said it would be nice to follow in the footsteps of Larson this year, but also admitted that it isn’t what he is focusing on after qualifying 11th at the one-mile oval.

“That would be something I’d probably think about afterwards, but right now it just feels like a normal week, a week where we have a great opportunity because this is a great track for me and I’m excited about the opportunity, not thinking about three in a row,” the 30-year-old said.

“Certainly, the confidence is high. And it’s just very refreshing to know we’ve improved our weaknesses.

“It’s tough, because the last part of the schedule, the two speedways and then the road course, literally none of that translates into what we’ll be doing here in Phoenix.

“That being said, this is a strength for us and we know we should be competitive if we do our jobs right.”

The Shriners Children's 500 was one of the three races Bell won in 2024 en route to fifth place in the championship.

His crew chief reckons Atlanta could kick off a strong run of races for the No. 20 Toyota.

“I don’t think there’s a place we go to where we shouldn’t be competitive,” said Adam Stevens.

“Certainly, the Atlanta win, just by virtue of it being a speedway, is a little bit unexpected and the manner that it happened was probably even more unexpected.

“All we can do is put ourselves in position, and we did that plenty of times last year and it just didn’t work out as often as we’d like.

“So far this year, we’ve had three races and put ourselves in position three times, and it’s worked out twice.

“I don’t think we’re going to continue that batting average all year, but it’s just up to us to do everything we can to put ourselves in that spot.”