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Christopher Bell Celebrates Dirt Racing Return at Chili Bowl

TULSA, OK — Oklahoma native Christopher Bell‘s racing DNA is firmly rooted in dirt racing and the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) NASCAR Cup Series driver made good on his Chili Bowl return with a win in the 2025 Race of Champions on Monday night.

Bell started on the pole and dominated the 25-lap feature to prevail over Daison Pursley and 2022 Chili Bowl champion Tanner Thorson for an all-Oklahoma native podium.

“I freaking love this place, man. It is the greatest!” Bell said shortly after climbing out of his No. 71W Keith Kunz Motorsports machine. “And I’m just glad I get to be here with all you great race fans. This is just so much fun, so much fun to be able to come back and run these dirt cars.

“It’s taken me a little bit to get my midget shoes underneath me but I’m really glad I had that race to try and help better myself for Thursday.”

This return to form shouldn’t surprise anybody. Bell is a three-time Chili Bowl champion, taking home the Golden Driller in a three-peat from 2017-2019 and securing another a pair of runner-up finishes over the years. But the Norman, Ok., native has been absent from the Chili Bowl for the last couple years.

JGR had a dirt racing ban in place starting in 2023, so Bell couldn’t compete at the one race he’d idolized since childhood. But the NASCAR powerhouse has recently relented on the ban. Team owner Joe Gibbs‘ grandson Ty has expressed an interest in dirt racing. Another long-time dirt competitor, Chase Briscoe, has joined the organization for 2025.

Bell quickly took advantage of the ban’s removal, competing in the Junior Knepper 55 inside the Southern Illinois Center in December, where he finished second. But while the two-time Championship 4 qualifier was eager to return to dirt, he understands the need to be smart moving forward.

“Most of the people in the company have been on board with dirt track racing and been in favor of it,” Bell said. “Joe [Gibbs] has just always been really wary of it and he wants to make sure that I stay healthy throughout the entire NASCAR career and any time that you open it up to do other races, it’s risky. 

“So I’m trying to show him the upmost respect and choose my races wisely and make sure that I’m not taking anything away from my NASCAR Cup Series schedule. And yeah, I think that I can, if done properly, I can use dirt track racing to improve my Sunday results and become a better racer for Joe himself.”

Bell was candid in that Gibbs trusts that his driver will pick and choose races to run that will result in the fewest conflicts with his NASCAR schedule, so Saturday races like the Knoxville Nationals main event day are unlikely to happen.

“Saturday races are going to be very, very tough, if not impossible for me to do because I don’t want to do anything that would deter me from my maximum performance on Sundays,” Bell said. “So a Knoxville prelim night, maybe, but I don’t know that that would necessarily be what I want to do. Saturday races are going to be tough.”

Bell will run in his Chili Bowl preliminary night on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s Alphabet Soup.

Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.


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Alex

I heard they are going to disqualify him because no one wants to see him put at least 5 laps on the entire field Saturday. There are talks to have him pull 2 plugs wires and have to run a flat right rear tire to help equal out the field, should be fun to watch.