Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell had all the right ingredients for a race win, but it wasn’t enough to stop his teammate Chase Briscoe from winning the Cup race at Chicagoland on Sunday.

Bell had a rollercoaster at the Eero 400. He suffered several setbacks, but routed through the grid and went from the back of the pack to the front. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to seal the deal, as Briscoe won by 0.267 seconds.

While talking to Kelly Crandall of RACER.com on pit road, he was questioned if it felt like deja vu, referring to his second-place finish at Nashville in June. Bell replied:

"I mean, it happens time and time again where I'm way behind coming up through the pack. I don’t know. I guess I had the track position in Nashville, and I still lost the race, so it goes both ways. We’ve lost them every way possible, and I mean, it's just, I'm not good enough right now."

On lap 49, while in the pit lane, Bell collided with Todd Gilliland, during which his splitter sustained minor damage. This incident also dropped him down to 12th at the end of Stage 1 and made his car "really, really loose."

Bell was forced to make multiple visits to the pit lane to fix his car, which put him at the back of the pack. However, he managed to make up places by the end of stage 2 and made his way to third place after overtaking William Byron.

The No. 20 Toyota driver managed to make it to the back of Briscoe’s bumper in the closing laps but failed to overtake him for the win.

Christopher Bell reveals pivotal error that cost potential Chicagoland win

Christopher Bell seemed to be in contention for the race win, but he couldn't get close enough to make a move. Moreover, a "soft" green flag entry in the final stage cost him time.

Post-race, while talking to TNT Sports, Bell acknowledged that he had a fast car and spoke about what went wrong in the last few laps of the race.

"I just need to replay that last run," Bell said. "I was really struggling with the handling of my car early on in the race, but I still had a lot of pace. They made a great adjustment and got the car driving great the last run. I was soft on my green flag entry for sure, which gave up a little bit of time. So need to go back and study the green flag cycle."

He further expressed his frustration about falling short. He said, 

"We almost went to victory lane. Toyotas are fast; it seems like a monkey can drive them. So it's disappointing when you get beat by another monkey. Just a second-place driver, man, that's what I am."

This marked Christopher Bell’s fourth second-place finish this season. He finished in runner-up place previously at Phoenix, Charlotte, and Nashville.

After 19 races, Bell stands in 10th place in the driver standings. 

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yash Kotak