2019 Chili Bowl Winner Christopher Bell Image: Dave Biro III
"For the time being, I'm not going to be dirt track racing" Christopher Bell
By: Tom Luttermoser
When you're investing millions of dollars into an athlete in hopes of them performing for your team for many years, the last thing you want is some unforeseen circumstance taking them out of play. Many coaches in stick and ball sports as well as owners in motorsports have tried to help prevent this from happening to the best of their ability. Obviously, an accident like the one that left Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher paralyzed is out of anyone's control. In motorsports however, a racing accident is potentially avoidable... When you keep your drivers out of other forms of racing. Owners such as Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs for years have been big on restricting the outside racing that their drivers participate in. Only over the last couple years has Rick allowed drivers such as Kyle Larson to essentially have free reign over their driving decisions. Larson in 2021 raced numerous dirt races and still came "home" to win the second most races in a single season in the modern era with 10 and the Cup Series Championship on top of that. But the big news today is about young Christopher Bell. Bell, a 3x Chili Bowl Nationals winner and 3x Turkey Night Grand Prix winner grew up on dirt. Bell had a breakout season in 2022 after winning 3 Cup Series races and making his first final-4 appearance. Well, on David Gravel Live, Bell talking about the Chili Bowl, stated "Joe... Joe Gibbs has been extremely, extremely vocal about his, I don't want to use the word hatred, but hatred towards dirt track racing.... He does not love dirt track or open wheel racing at all." Bell basically admitted he had to go around Joe through the late Coy Gibbs adding, "I would always funnel my dirt track stuff through Coy." With Coy's passing in November, it is clear that Joe Gibbs will not allow it. The fan reactions to this news are as expected, they are overwhelmingly in support of young Bell.
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