Christopher Bell has been flying under the radar to start the 2023 NASCAR season despite being the points leader in the Cup Series. Bell, 28, won at Bristol Dirt to clinch a spot in the playoffs and has the most top-5 finishes and top-10 finishes in the series.
The 28-year-old driver has been a budding superstar ever since the beginning of the 2022 playoffs. Bell pulled off two of the biggest upsets in NASCAR playoff history after securing two must-win races en route to the Championship 4.
However, Bell came up short of the title due to a late-race caution while a bad pit stop followed. He is now regarded as one of the future superstars in NASCAR and it puts him in a category where his words will start to carry more weight.
Related: Christopher Bell receives high praise from Toyota as NASCAR enters 2023 season
Christopher Bell calls for more horsepower and says NASCAR has ‘gutless engines’
Bell was one of three drivers selected to run a tire test at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Tuesday as NASCAR looks to upgrade the short track package. Quite frankly, it is a much-needed change after the previous changes did little for Martinsville Speedway.
Whenever there was cloud cover on the race track, it was near impossible to pass while sunlight provided better racing. The NextGen car has proved to be weather dependent which is not a great thing for the sport.
In the three races with the new short track package, Bell has two top-10 finishes and showed tremendous speed at Phoenix Raceway, which is the site of the NASCAR Cup Series championship event.
Therefore, it is really notable to hear what the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said about the package. Bell spoke to the media following the test in New Hampshire and did not hold anything back when it relates to the current status of the NextGen car.
“I guess from my standpoint, everything that we are doing is just a bandaid for the gutless engines that we have today. We keep taking downforce out because we try and get less grips in the car but if we put horsepower in it, I don’t think we have near the problems today that we have.”
Christopher Bell on the status of the NextGen car in 2023
Bell certainly spoke his mind on the subject and it is something that he is passionate about as a NASCAR driver. It is understandable as drivers prefer more horsepower in the cars since it enhances the racing and allows the skill of the drivers to be on display.
In fact, Bell’s teammate Denny Hamlin gave an interesting story on his podcast, Actions Detrimental, about the driver of the No. 20 car a few weeks ago when the topic of horsepower was brought up.
Bell asked Andy Graves, the Competition Engineering Executive and Technical Director of TRD, in a meeting if there was any way that NASCAR could add more horsepower. Hamlin told Bell to stop asking and Graves said it’s not going to happen.
Hamlin has previously said that NASCAR won’t increase horsepower again with the current engine but hopefully, Bell and other drivers can help push the situation to a point where the sport decides to do it as they represent the future.
In the meantime, whether you are watching it live or looking for how to watch NASCAR on TV or another streaming platform, Sportsnaut has you covered for the upcoming weekend at Dover Motor Speedway!