Christopher Bell on managing emotions and dealing with disappointment: 12 Questions

Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, who this week heads to one of his best tracks: New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This interview has been edited for clarity, but the full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast.

1. What is currently the No. 1 thing on your bucket list?

I would imagine the No. 1 thing on my bucket list is the same thing that all the drivers answer, which is a Cup Series championship. That’s probably a pretty popular answer, huh?

2. How much media coverage of NASCAR do you consume?

Honestly, not much. I definitely stay away from media stuff, social media and really any sort of media during the week. My in-laws, they come over a lot for dinner because they live in Charlotte and like they love to watch “Race Hub” and all that stuff. And I’m like, “Nope, not here. We’re not turning that on.”

Because you just are trying to disconnect and reset?

I focus on our team. And I try to not digest the other opinions of our team that get floated around.

3. Beyond winning, what is the best way to measure success in racing?

There are two ways. No. 1 is a measurable way, and that’s by laps led. That is a very important stat. It obviously isn’t as important as winning, but it shows who was the best team and who was the best car that day.

And then No. 2, which is extremely hard to put any sort of quantitative measure on, is just the “it” factor. I know you know what that is. It’s very, very hard to see in stock cars. I can’t see it, for sure. I’m sure some people can. But growing up dirt track racing, you could very visually tell who was good and who was bad just by watching them, no matter what lap time showed or anything.

4. What is an opinion you have about NASCAR that you don’t think is shared by the fans?

My opinion is that our racing product is actually good. I just get tired of all the negativity that comes around with the media stuff. And obviously, this is a deterrent of why I stay away from it. I wouldn’t say media stuff, I would say more like fan input. They just complain and gripe about the product. And it doesn’t matter what the product is, they’re going to complain about it. And I think our product is actually very good. It is certainly as competitive as any other racing industry in the world.

5. What is the biggest thing fans don’t realize about what you do for a living?

Maybe the physical fitness part of it. That’s been talked about forever since the start of time about NASCAR drivers: Are they athletes? Are they not athletes? But it does take physical effort to compete and complete a Cup race.

6. This next one is a question related to a current topic with yourself. You recently came off of a Gateway race where you should have won, but your engine didn’t hold up. And there’s been many races you should have won. You’re about to turn 30 this year and you’ve won eight times, but I’m sure you’re not satisfied with the number of wins you have. So when stuff like that happens, how do you mentally process it? How do you move on? You did everything right, but that should have been a win for you.

It’s tough. The only way to move on is just by getting behind the wheel again. Unfortunately, in our sport, it only happens once a week. But because of that, it makes every win a bigger deal, too. So there are positives and negatives out of it.

And yes, I think about it many times that I’m an eight-time Cup winner. At Charlotte, I was on the other side of it and I won the race. But Gateway, I lost. And I’m an eight-time Cup winner and not a nine-time Cup winner.

7. This is a wild-card question. Last month, Kyle Larson got tons of accolades for being so versatile. But of course, you are also versatile and you have gone head-to-head and beaten Larson. You’re not able to show that because you don’t have the same opportunities. So when you see people say, “Wow, somebody else is so versatile,” are you OK with that? Are you frustrated, like, “Well, if I could get into stuff, I could do the same thing?” How do you view all of that?

It goes back to Question No. 2 of how much media I intake of the sport, and I definitely stay out of it. I stay away from the media coverage. And then I also believe in myself, and I know if I got or had the opportunity to run other stuff, I would be successful. So I don’t really follow it.

8. What do you like about the place you grew up? You’re from Norman, Oklahoma.

I enjoy the fact there’s a really competitive college football team out of there. That’s always been a highlight of being in Oklahoma and being from Norman, is you have the Oklahoma Sooners football team and they’re normally really competitive. So I’m proud of them.

I know you’re racing on the weekends, but do you still try to follow them?

That’s normally my Saturday routine. Either before qualifying or after qualifying in the fall time, I’ll be watching their games.

9. What personality trait are you the most proud of?

I am most proud of the fact I can manage my emotions extremely well. There are positives that come out of it and there are also negatives that come out of it. Just thinking about how I handle adversity and confrontation. And inside the car, I don’t get very vocal on the radio. That has positives, but it also has negatives because I’m not aggressive enough on telling people what I need — whether it’s a setup change or an adjustment.

And in general in life, maybe people will take advantage of me because I’m very calm and even-mannered. So that’s one thing I am proud of, is the fact I am able to keep my emotions in check. But I do think it allows me to get taken advantage of at times.

Have you always been that way? Or is that something you had to learn?

I’ve always been that way.

10. Which driver would you least like to be stuck with on an elevator?

This is tough. I don’t really have any outstanding problems with anybody, so nothing from that standpoint. But maybe someone who I don’t have a lot in common with is Michael McDowell. He’s got a ton of kids; I’ve got no kids. He’s at a very different part of his life than me. I like Michael McDowell, but we’re just in different stages of life.

11. What’s a run-in you’ve had with a driver that TV or the media missed?

I don’t think I’ve had one the TV or the media has missed. Going back to my even-mannered (personality), I stay out of confrontation most of the time. But my few on-track incidents, the TV has been all over it, for sure.

12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. The last one was with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He says in 2012, you ran the Short Track Nationals in Little Rock, Arkansas, and you battled for the win. Afterward, he came over to talk to you and he said you were just looking at him with one-word answers like, “Thanks.” And he was wondering if you remember this conversation you guys had.

So I do remember the Short Track Nationals that year. I was running for a really, really small team out of Ohio. And he was part-owner in Jason Johnson’s team, and Jason Johnson was pitted a couple trailers down. And yes, I do very vividly remember that weekend and remember being in awe that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came up to me.

Oh, OK. So you definitely knew who he was and all that.

Oh, absolutely. He was a superstar and I was just a little kid. I was in awe of the fact Ricky Stenhouse Jr. came up and talked to me.

The next one I’m doing is with Carson Hocevar. Do you have a question I might be able to ask him?

He burst onto the scene last year and had that great showing at Gateway when Corey (LaJoie) was in the 9, and then he did really well in the 42 in part-time starts. My question would be: Has it been different now that he’s full-time in the series? Has the year gone to his expectations? And if not, why?

GO DEEPER

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(Top photo of Christopher Bell at practice last weekend at Iowa Speedway: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)