On Saturday night (Sept. 13) at Bristol Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell won his fourth race of the season.
The victory was the 13th of his blooming NASCAR Cup Series career, and all 13 wins have come in the last five seasons. Bell should be a household name based on that record.
Until now, he hasn’t been.
But what Bell said after his victory might have changed that.
“Most importantly, this week has obviously been a very tough week,” Bell told NBC Sports. “And you know, there’s a lot on our minds and … this one’s for Charlie.”
A thunderous applause followed, to which Bell turned to face the crowd and pumped his fist in acknowledgement.
The Norman, Okla., native was of course referencing the assassination of Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old political activist and father of two young children. Kirk was shot to death while hosting a public debate forum on the Utah Valley University Campus just two days earlier.
In one simple sentence, Bell showed a side the public hadn’t previously seen. He also showed a level of courage I felt was much needed at this tumultuous time in American history. Regardless of what you may see online from the extremes, most Americans believe the assassination was a tragic and unacceptable event, including those left of center who vehemently disagreed with Kirk’s politics.
The extremes in the minority of America, who either feel the assassination was somehow justified or who cite it as a casus belli for additional violence, often seem to get a louder voice than the majority. Going against these extremes does a lot to preserve peace and provoke unity. It also requires courage in an environment where so many seem to be at each other’s throats.
There is a warranted cry frequently echoed by sports fans asking athletes to “stick to sports.”
But there are times in this country when something happens that goes beyond the typical political discourse — a moment that deserves a statement from anyone given a platform.
The unity that was shown in support of Bubba Wallace in 2020 was an example of that. Facing potential racism in the form of a noose some felt was intentionally placed in front of Wallace’s hauler (later disproven by an FBI investigation), the sport came together in solidarity behind the Black driver at Talladega Superspeedway.
The recent assassination of Kirk, a well-known figure who many drivers and fans are close to in age and very familiar with, is another. A few Cup regulars, including Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Noah Gragson, went public with their own thoughts in the wake of the incident.
But neither driver listed above has Bell’s resume of accomplishments. His seven race wins since the beginning of the 2024 NASCAR season are the third most in the sport, behind only Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin during that timeframe. Those are part of a select few to be considered household names due to longevity and success. Bell is the youngest among that group, with arguably the highest ceiling for where his career can go.
Yet Bell has remained a bit of a mysterious figure, despite his success. Part of the mystique has come from his reserved nature. He rarely speaks out about anything not related to racing. If you scroll Bell’s social media pages, you will find content almost exclusively related to motorsports, with some silliness sprinkled in with his wife, Morgan Bell, and one outlier — a visit to the Arlington National Cemetery, where he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
In recent years, a frequent criticism of NASCAR drivers has been they’re too vanilla. That lack of personality comes paired with lives too private for fans to ever find out who they truly are as human beings.
It adds up into a theory that the sport is less popular today than decades prior because those drivers now lack star power. They must walk a fine line: on one hand, stick to sports, while on the other, show us some personality. Just don’t rub anyone the wrong way, either, in the Fortune 500 boardroom or in the stands.
Bell is an important case study in this phenomenon. He’s still relatively young at age 30 (one year younger than Kirk), with presumably most of his best years still in front of him. Ask your barber or your boss if they’ve heard of him. Odds are: they haven’t.
The recent Netflix series NASCAR: Full Speed offered a glimpse into Bell’s family life and competitive nature, but still did not show much about him we didn’t already know.
Until Saturday night, that is. After years of laying low, Bell found his voice.
Kirk’s death is one of those rare events that silence, while understandable given the circumstances, could be considered negligent with all that is at stake. Yet silence would still be the easiest path.
Throughout the sports world, tributes to Kirk could be found if you looked hard enough. Some NFL Stadiums held moments of silence. Richard Childress Racing put a decal on its cars memorializing Kirk. But when Kirk’s good friend Jack Posobiec published a recent episode of his Human Events Daily podcast, celebrating Kirk’s life, it was Bell’s winning dedication to Kirk that stood as the lone voice in sports speaking on the matter during the opening segment.
These NASCAR athletes live in a complicated and pressure-packed world. Fortune 500 companies adorn the cars they drive and the shoes they wear. Cancel culture is a notorious and pervasive element of the last decade or more. In NASCAR, any comment that upsets too many people could bring the end of a sponsorship, which can be a major detriment to a career or even the end of one.
For perhaps the first time in his career, I doubt Bell took the time to calculate what the reaction would be to his comment. Bell didn’t care about the extremes. Instead, he was being authentically him. He didn’t say it to gain positive attention, and he didn’t bite his tongue over fear of cancellation. He didn’t delve into policy or chastise anyone who disagreed with Kirk.
He simply said what he felt in his heart.
Bell, like most Americans, felt that nobody should be assassinated for the words they speak. He used his triumphant moment to voice support of the man who was killed while exercising free speech. It was a choice that deserves admiration.
Regardless of your opinions of Kirk, Bell’s words should be recognized as courageous and constructive to the greater good. He had an opportunity to say something he felt was important and seized it. The moment should have conveyed a message of unity, and boy, do we need unity in this country today.
In doing so, Bell gave a subtle hat tip to the reality we all live in. Violence is not the way to solve disagreements. Stifling free speech with a bullet is never the right way forward for humanity. It should be condemned by all, regardless of political persuasion. The division in America appears to be accelerating with each day, and the “tough week” Bell referenced is some of the strongest evidence we’ve seen thus far.
We all bear some level of responsibility to commit to living with our neighbors whom we disagree, to find common ground where we can and civilly disagree when we must. Athletes like Bell, right or wrong, have an amplified responsibility because of their tremendous visibility and the increasingly diverse fanbase of NASCAR.
If this simple statement led to the loss of some fans for Bell, it undoubtedly also earned many more new ones, even though that is surely not what he was aiming for — his private history makes that perfectly clear.
That made Bell one of the last people you’d expect to find stepping out on a limb to make such a courageous statement. But he rose to the occasion and showed that leadership can be found in many places, making the world a better place because of it. The courage required to dedicate his victory to Kirk was the exclamation point that birthed a star on Saturday night.
Steve Leffew joined Frontstretch in 2023 and covers the Xfinity Series. He has served honorably in the United States Air Force and and lives in Wisconsin.
Hey Steve, fuck you. Fuck Bell and fuck Kirk. Kirk was a very horrible person and the majority of people in our country don’t miss him. He was brain washing young people and recruiting them for the far, far right. He was a racist and don’t forget to mix in a fair amount of misogyny frosted with the teachings of female submission and subservience. In closing fuck the Front Stretch for posting this trash.
Thank you for reading
Seeing the vitriol in these comments, this is why I don’t want to know others politics. from either perspective.
Nice avatar….did you know BMW made the engines for Nazi Lutwaffe planes in WWII, hence that propelller logo? Technically Nazi propaganda. But please, prattle on.
Brilliant. Let’s compare what a company did 70+ years ago, of which not one person is still a part of the company, from a country which learned to abhor what happened in WWII, to current events.
Nice straw man you have there. If you wish to refute Bruce’s comments, have at it. To sprain your arm reaching for the argument you chose is laughable. But please, prattle on.
Maybe you don’t know that BMW was forced to build those engines. I have enjoyed driving their cars for many years. I also have driven Ford trucks for decades and don’t care about the dark side of Henry Ford 100 years ago. That was then, this is now
Bruce is a museum quality specimen of a modern leftist douchebag.
Bruce is just your typical compassionate, inclusive, tolerant, accepting liberal, unless you dare disagree with any of his opinions. Then he’ll have numerous -isms and -ists to label you with. After all, his opinions are the only correct ones and are the complete and only truths that should be accepted by all. The rest of us are just ignorant, racist, sexist, bigoted Do-tards, Tea-tards, and Trump-tards who don’t have any intelligence whatsoever and should be eliminated just like Charlie, right Bruce?
Hey Bruce,
Thanks for adding such a classy comment to a normally decent site. Typical reaction of a pea-brained leftist to something they don’t agree with. Please get lost, and while you’re at it, do unto yourself as you would do unto others.
Mr. Leffew, I fear you just lit a fuse under little old Frontstretch!
I respect athletes right to speak their mind, whether I agree with their views or not. Sadly, many will condone Christopher’s decision to speak out, while continuing to repudiate those who speak out with any views which oppose their own. You noted Bubba Wallace. He didn’t find the “noose”, he didn’t report the finding, and he didn’t even know about it until after NASCAR had alerted the FBI. Yet, many have judged him based upon what happened, including our President calling on him to apologize. Mr. President, for what exactly does he need to apologize?
“Constructive of the greater good”? That’s a bridge too far for me. Kirk’s views were divisive, many of which were harmful and hurtful to wide swaths of our country, and this is not a secret. Had Bell said something to the effect of “this is for all victims of gun violence”, THAT would have been “constructive of the greater good”. Mr. Kirk’s life was no more or less valuable than any of the myriad children who have been murdered just this year, or for that matter, the state Congresspeople who were murdered in Minnesota.
Charlie Kirk didn’t deserve to be murdered. I respect that Mr. Kirk was more willing to discuss and debate than most who have political mouth pieces, and NO ONE deserves to be murdered. We need to be discussing our differences, rather than living in our own echo-chambers, and Mr. Kirk was willing to do this.
Unfortunately, it seems those in power, as well as those who wish to take power have a vested interest in preventing this, creating boogeymen for everyone to use as a cudgel against one another. Social media and news are large part of this as well, serving up often untrue information which supports our already held beliefs.
I feel speaking of “cancellation” here is disingenuous. We are already seeing “cancellations” of people who have spoken out with negative observations of Mr. Kirk. This is a coordinated effort, with rich and powerful people backing it, largely profiting off of stirring the pot.
We are also seeing rattling of sabres from the very highest levels about censoring those who hold opposing views to those in power, and directly applying pressure to remove those who are most vocal in their opposition. This does not sound like freedom or democracy to me.
It’s interesting…it seems the political right has railed against cancelling people and things for a decade or so now. The problem is this is hypocritical. They’ve cancelled a popular beer, they’ve cancelled Cracker Barrel, and they’ve cancelled many other individuals and companies as well. (Target is a funny one…first the right cancelled them, now the left has cancelled them as well!)
Either cancelling companies and people is wrong, or it’s not. But as usual, both sides want to have it both ways.
The answer is of course to stop telling people how to live their lives, stop listening to those who espouse hate and division, and stop believing what is said on social media. Sadly, I fear we may have reached a tipping point, and reason and tolerance may not see the light of day before our once beautiful union has crumbled.
For anyone who read this far, I’d recommend reading up on the Bonhoeffer Theory. And ask yourself the hard questions it should bring to mind. It was enlightening to me, and yes, it made my question myself. This is healthy to do, and I don’t feel Americans are doing this right now.
I respect your viewpoint, I respect you acknowledging Kirk didn’t deserve to die… and I thank you for reading and offering this thoughtful comment. My intentions were to keep this as apolitical as possible while recognizing a big moment that crossed over between NASCAR and world news, from an unlikely source.
And I respect yours as well. I nearly decided to keep my big mouth shut (or in this case my keyboard quiet), but after seeing multiple hateful yet unsurprisingly emotional posts in the comments, I decided to blather on a bit myself.
Also respect your willingness to engage in discussion here in the comments. I didn’t have deep political discussion on my Frontstretch bingo card for today!
In the wake of Mr. Kirk’s death, I had a discussion with a close family member, who rarely sees eye to eye with me on political issues. In this case, we did agree, in that nearly everything is political now.
I think unless we cease supporting those who foment this very thing, making everything “us vs. them”, and everything a tool of political division, we will never get past what this has done, and continues to do our country. This has become tribal, with emotion rather than reason ruling most days.
Thank you for your service. The men and women of our armed forces are the very reason we are able to have this sort of discourse, and I hope we recognize how important this freedom is, before it is too late.
I awaken to see Kimmel’s show placed on permanent hold, due to comments about Mr. Kirk in his monologue. In this case, being cancelled is quite literally correct. This was due in part to direct pressure from our government, in the form of the FCC. I’m curious as to your take vis a vis cancellations.
Additionally, three York County PA officers were killed in the line of duty yesterday, and two in critical condition, after confronting a man in camouflage, who was stalking his ex-girlfriend. Should Christopher dedicate his win to them if he wins Sunday?
“He didn’t find the “noose”, he didn’t report the finding, and he didn’t even know about it until after NASCAR had alerted the FBI. Yet, many have judged him based upon what happened”
You failed to mention the fact that when it was determined it wasn’t a noose and was not racism at all, he doubled down, even going on mainsteam media outlets to continue playing the victim. This is the 2nd time that I have seen this post of yours and it is still short on facts.
Yes, let’s talk facts.
Immediately upon the FBI determining the facts of the situation, The President of The United States called upon Wallace to apologize for creating this controversy, and many people echoed this, and still do as of current times. The President’s call for this was immediately upon the time of the FBI releasing their findings. This by definition predates Wallace making any appearances on mainstream media platforms after the facts were known.
Go over to the biggest conservative news site. Look in the comments section where they covered Bell’s recent story. There are multiple people in the comments noting to this day how Wallace orchestrated the “noose” situation. This is a lie. Either they know this, and are intentionally lying, or they do not know this, and are presenting the lies they have been told as facts, because they do not know the truth.
When it comes to this controversy, Wallace is the very definition of a victim…someone who is unfairly treated due to something over which they had no control. Wallace was immediately blamed by our President for what was a massive racial controversy, and called upon from the highest power in our land to show contrition, for something of which he played no part.
We can debate how Wallace handled the situation after the FBI’s report, and the President’s immediate comment via a public forum. We cannot debate Wallace did not know, and was blamed by the President. Possibly Wallace would have handled the fallout differently, had he not been condemned by so many before he had any chance to react.
I’m honestly not sure what I would have done here…being told by the President to apologize for something I didn’t do, and being condemned by many who did not know the facts would not go well with me either.
We are literally having a war of words in our country, where empirical facts are being debated as though they are malleable. This is a large part of why nearly everyone has this us vs. them mentality. If we are not careful, this will escalate into something even more disastrous, of which no one will win other than possibly the choice few in their ivory towers.
I read and learn from information on many fronts, including both left and right leaning news sources. Simply put, they both lie. Often, if one looks past the writers and commenters biases, no matter the reason for these biases, the facts become clear. Essentially all news outlets have a bias right now, and the only way to discern the truth is to see what both sides are saying, then look into the details to find out what is factually happening. Sad, but empirically true, as both sides will gleefully point out lies from their competing voices.
Unfortunately, few take the time to learn the facts. They’d rather hear opinions which confirm their existing world view than possibly learn something which challenges their perspective. On some level, I get it. No one likes to find out they were wrong, or duped. But the importance of this cannot be overstated. People are being manipulated, for myriad reasons, and only they can choose to stop allowing this to happen.
I find it ironic that after finally banning Confederate battle flags at races, outwardly supporting such a divisive personality is considered ‘brave’. I have no interest in learning any Nascar driver/ owner’ employee’s politics. I am horrified that Kirk was assassinated…no one deserves that, no matter what their beliefs. On either side. I had hoped that racing was one place to find refuge from the divisive political atmosphere. seems I was wrong.
Thank you for reading. I totally understand the desire for a refuge from politics. As you said, the assassination was horrifying. Some people seem to want to keep making the division worse, which could lead to more assassinations. Any public figure who risks pissing people off to call out the fact that the man shouldn’t have been killed for his words has unfortunately become a brave act in my view. Especially someone who has never opened up on anything like this before.
I would have been content never to know how he felt about Kirk. especially in public. Again, I don’t want to know anyones political leanings or beliefs. What he wants to say in his own private media is something else. He didn’t condemn his assassination, actually, just offer his support in general. seems different to me, but again, I wanted NACAR to be an escape from all the strife.
Well said!😉