Christopher Bell is in third place in the NASCAR Chase points standings, but says he's in a must-win situation with only five races left in the 2026 season.
Bell won the first race in the Chase at Darlington, but remains 55 points behind leader Kyle Larson in NASCAR's new scoring format, with the Chase heading to Charlotte on Oct. 11 (2 p.m. CT, USA Network).
When Bell says he must win, he's not talking about just one race. He believes it will take at least two wins to claim the title. Bell is 15 points behind second-place Denny Hamlin.
"The points stuff, I've been up and down, and after Darlington I was like, 'We're right where we need to be,' " Bell said. "But now I know that it's going to take wins to close the gap. I love and am thankful that I'm
still in contention, but aside from race wins, I don't think you're going to make up a 50-point deficit without that win bonus (75 points) that is applied now. It's going to take a couple of wins, I would think."
So Bell, 31, remains a long shot in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, especially considering the win at Darlington on Sept. 6 was his only win in 2026. He was second in seven regular-season races, but finishing second apparently won't be enough down the stretch.
"Compared to the competition, the 11 (Hamlin), I think I'm within striking distance to where I can pass him without winning, but with the 5 (Larson) being out so far, I think it's going to take wins," Bell said. "The difference between the playoff format and where we are now is that there's a much larger backside penalty to pay if you make a mistake going for a win and end up crashing out and not scoring points; I could fall way deeper down the standings."
How Christopher Bell handled losing power steering at Las Vegas
Bell made a big save by not crashing out at Las Vegas on Oct. 4 after his power steering failed in Stage 2. He managed to salvage a 23rd-place finish and earned 17 stage points.
Bell said losing his power steering took a toll on him physically, and he still felt the effects the day after the race.
"My shoulders and my hands really were the big things that hurt just from gripping the wheel a lot harder than I am used to and obviously the effort it took to turn the car through the corners," he said. "It was disheartening to have an opportunity taken away from us like that. It was just a parts failure. It was nobody's fault. It was a part that had been tested and I believe was a part that nobody has had an issue with in the past."
Why Christopher Bell hopes Kyle Larson loses his power steering
Larson, the defending Cup champion, questioned whether a driver could continue to race after a complete loss of power steering.
On Corey LaJoie's "Stacking Pennies" podcast, Larson said: "No power steering? There’s no chance that Christopher Bell is hanging on to a race car. When people say no power steering, you have some power steering. (Expletive), I’m going to give you some flowers, but zero percent power assist on an intermediate. No way."
Bell was asked about Larson's comments on Oct. 7 and said: "I hope it happens to him, so he can talk about it.”
Bell tried to further explain how his power steering failed.
"Mine was a slow degradation of assist loss from some point in Stage 2," Bell said. "I was losing it slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, then it went from, I don't know, 50 percent assist, 20 percent assist, to the stall moment. I really don't know if I had 10 percent assist, 20 percent assist. All I know is that I couldn't turn the car."
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Christopher Bell ended up in a 'must-win' situation in the NASCAR Chase
