By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service
RICHMOND, Va. — Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell claimed his seventh runner-up finish last weekend at Iowa Speedway tying him with NASCAR legend Harry Gant (1981) for most ever in a single season. His 11 runner-up finishes since 2025 are more than double that of any other competitor – his JGR teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe each have six.
But as frustrating as the close calls may feel in the moment, the 31-year-old conceded after a little time to reflect, he has to look at the efforts in a positive way. The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota certainly love to hoist his first trophy of the year in Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway (7 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), where he has an impressive seven top-10s in 10 NASCAR Cup Series starts; his best career showing – yes – a second place fun in 2022 and he’s led 230 laps.
He does have three wins here in what is now the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, including a two-race sweep in 2018.
“Certainly, all of the second-place finishes – they’re trying and, in the moment, it really kind of feels like just a kick to the gut, but then whenever Monday, Tuesday rolls around, you’re like, ah, it was a pretty darn good day,’’ conceded Bell, who does have three NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series wins here including a two-race 2018 sweep.
“So, ultimately, the results that we’ve gotten have meant a lot more this year than what they have in my entire Cup career with the format change. So, it’s been nice to stack some good results together and we’re performing really well right now. I certainly feel like we’re in the mix.”
Bell’s work at Iowa moved him up four positions in the championship standings to sixth place and he’s only four points behind his teammate Briscoe in fifth. With the accumulation of points now setting the Chase field instead of a win-and-you’re-in situation of recent seasons, top-fives and top-10s are impactful.
“They mean more today in this year than they have for the previous format, my entire Cup career and NASCAR career for that matter,’’ Bell said. “The point standings and where you’re running at in points is super important, but the entire previous championship format was very much win or bust. I think that mentality is still engraved in at least my mind and probably most of the industry’s mind, but in all reality, it’s not win or bust anymore.”
Hamlin on Richmond Qualifying
Hamlin, a five-time race winner at his home track, Richmond Raceway, is the last driver to win here from pole position – claiming the win from the number one starting spot in 2016.
Asked Friday why the Busch Light Pole Winner has so seldom won the race recently, Hamlin paused and gave a well-thought-out answer about his hometown .75-mile oval.
“I think the average starting position for the winner is somewhere around 6.7, something like that,’’ said Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. “So you just kind of put yourself somewhere in that range. I think a lot of the reason is that qualifying here is extremely, extremely technical.
“I would say it’s probably the hardest [track] to qualify to hit your marks. … I think that sometimes whoever’s got the best car doesn’t qualify on the pole because it’s just really, really difficult to put it all together, and sometimes someone with a decent car can just hit the marks just right, and that’s when they get the pole. So, I think the technicality of the actual line that you have to run makes it to where you see comers and goers here.”
In 37 starts, Hamlin has an amazing 8.9 starting position and has earned four career poles, the last in 2024 when he finished runner-up in the race.
SVG Feeling the Chase Push
To Bell’s point, the new championship format has shifted the focus of competition and Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen is someone, in particular, who feels the new emphasis. The sport’s reigning road course master had earned previous positions in the Chase with his trophy haul on the road course stops on the schedule.
The 37-year-old New Zealander has a pair of wins in 2026 but sits 15th in points and currently is title-eligible based on the totality of his work, not only his mastery on the road courses. And it’s something Van Gisbergen sad he has consciously worked on.
“I guess initially, it’s probably a good thing for the sport,” van Gisbergen said of the championship format change. “I guess initially, I was brought over here for that ‘win and you’re in’ to guarantee a spot in the playoffs, so yeah, I certainly knew I had to get better at ovals, and I think we’ve done that.
“I don’t think my mindset has changed every race. I think maybe these couple of races, I’m points racing a little bit, but the rest of the year, you’re just driving flat out. I don’t think I’ve ever really points raced trying to stay out of trouble. I think that when you’re not driving naturally, you find yourself in trouble. So yeah, I just try and drive every race flat out.”
His emphasis and work is evident. He already has equaled career single season highs in top-fives (five) and top-10s (seven) with 13 races still remaining on the year. Four of his top-10s have come on traditionally difficult ovals and he’s twice set a career best showing on ovals – fifth place at both Nashville and North Wilkesboro (N.C.).
van Gisbergen started his weekend off by winning the pole position for Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet– his first career pole in the series and first pole position of any kind on an oval.
Elliott Back in the Saddle Again
Former full-time NASCAR competitor, Virginia-native Elliott Sadler said he got more than 60 requests from friends and family for tickets for Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Black’s Tires 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Richmond Raceway – the 51-year old’s first race in a NASCAR premier series in seven years and first truck race in 15 years and first truck race at Richmond since 2001.
He’ll drive the No. 25 “Free Agent” Kaulig Racing Dodge Ram on a Virginia “Dream Team” this weekend – Kaulig’s CEO Chris Rice, and Elliott’s teammates Brendan McQueen and Mini Tyrrell are all Virginia natives too.
Sadler said Rice first approached him about the opportunity in January that his first thumbs-up came immediately from his two teenage children who missed seeing their dad compete.
“When I retired seven years ago, I retired for one reason and that’s to spend time with my kids, I was travelling so much and missing everything they were doing at home and felt like I’d followed my dream long enough and I wanted to help my kids follow their dream,’’ Sadler said.
Noting his kids’ reaction and strong approval of the possibility he’d race again, Sadler said, “They both screamed to the top of their lungs, ‘We miss the track, we miss the people.’ They miss this part of my life and now that that they are older, 16 and 14 now, they were ecstatic, so I called Chris [Rice] back and said, ‘you know what, I’m in.’”
“Once I saw my kids’ faces light up that this would be cool to see their dad race again, it made it a very easy decision.’’
Odd and Ends
Toyota’s 14 wins through the opening 23 races is the most for a manufacturer since Chevrolet won 17 in 2007.
