Bell on how The Chase has 'put pressure on every single race'
Christopher Bell shares how the 2026 season has been a year-long grind to stack points with each race weekend having its own pressure.
Video Transcript
Can you explain, maybe what, like, the grind is like right now?
Because you're talking about, you know, trying to climb from 10th and beyond to get to fifth, and, you know, the Chase hasn't even started.
There's gonna be that 10-week grind there, and I'm just curious what this period is like.
And I know you had much to race for even in the old system, if there's a difference in what the grind is like from now to, to last year as well too.
Well, the So I will say the, the grind of the schedule was a lot harder last year.
With that, we had one off week, it was Easter weekend, and then we had, you know, what was it?
20-something races, in a row.
That was brutal last year.
So at least I, I feel like the schedule being broken up a lot more this year, having that extra off weekend and, a couple of weeks ago was great.
But the new format has put a lot more pressure on every single race.
And, you know, the last couple, or the last s- playoff format, you, you very much had this, this, you know, I've talked about it before, this win or bust mentality of throughout the regular season, you're racing for wins, and if you don't have an opportunity to win, it's like, "Okay.
Well, we'll try again next week," and just kinda put it behind you.
Where now, at every single stage, every race, every position, all of those points matter and have an impact on where you're gonna be, y- whenever the Chase starts, and then, you know, your seeding in the Chase.
So, I would say the pressure of the week to week has been a lot more this year, and, obviously it's just gonna ramp up whenever the Chase starts.
But in all reality, the races that we're doing now before the Chase starts have as big of an impact as those in the Chase.
So, yeah, this format has definitely put the pressure on the teams and the drivers.
And based off what you're saying then, if you'd had a season like this year last year with the runner-ups, that wouldn't have been as It's more painful now because- I, I would say no.
I would say it's been more gratifying now with this, with the runner-ups, because, you know, last year, or the previous format, I keep saying last year, but the previous format was you got the b- the bonus points, which were the only thing that transferred from race wins.
So if I would've had seven second place finishes last year and no wins, that would've been, that would've been brutal.
But at least this year with this format, there are The bonus points are gone.
It's just the one point standing structure, and, and we have been able to string together some solid point days.
You know, so I, I think that it's been a lot more gratifying this year to have those seven runner-up finishes than, than it would've been in the year, in the previous format.
