Christopher Bell was the emotional favorite for some going into the NASCAR Cup Series championship race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday (Nov. 6), and a freak accident on pit road might have thwarted those chances.
Instead, Bell finished 10th, third of the Championship 4 drivers.
News broke just prior to the green flag that Coy Gibbs, co-owner, vice chairman and COO of Joe Gibbs Racing and son of Joe Gibbs, had passed away.
“To receive news like that a couple hours before you get in the car is extremely tough,” Bell said. “Just really kind of puts it in perspective that what we’re doing here is not the big picture for sure.
“Yeah, just thinking of Joe. I just can’t imagine what Joe is going through and the entire Gibbs family. That’s the important piece.”
The news left a somber feeling throughout the garage, and rumors circulated as to whether some of the JGR and 23XI Racing cars would even race. Coy’s son Ty did not race, with Daniel Hemric piloting the No. 23 for 23XI instead.
“That was an experience like I’ve never gone through in my entire life,” Bell said. “In that moment, you don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong and you don’t know if you should get in the racecar and race, if you shouldn’t race.
“Myself and Denny [Hamlin] and I think the other JGR drivers were all in the same boat. We just didn’t know what to do. Then Dave Alpern [JGR president] actually came back to the racetrack right before we left for driver intros, and he told us that we need to go out there and race, and that’s what we did.”
Bell still had a championship to go for, riding the momentum of two wins when facing elimination in the playoffs. Bell’s crew chief Adam Stevens was going for his third career championship and his first without Kyle Busch.
“We just got the news so close to race time,” Stevens told Frontstretch. “It was beyond a shock. Not a single one of us had had a chance to process it. It was just, ‘Get through the day and just support each other,’ was the message.”
Among those on Stevens’ crew was Jackson Gibbs — the nephew of Coy and son of the late JD Gibbs — who serves as the team’s front tire changer. Despite the loss of Coy, Jackson still pitted the No. 20 on Sunday, with a tribute to his uncle on his helmet.
Jackson Gibbs, the nephew of Coy Gibbs, is still changing tires for Christopher Bell today. Here’s his helmet for today’s race: pic.twitter.com/Q6aC0fgwrs
— Clara Goodwin…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Frontstretch…