Christopher Bell needed Coca-Cola 600 triumph in the worst way

Coming off two consecutive appearances in the NASCAR Cup Series championship race, Bell was expected to be a championship contenders in 2024. He quickly backed up his vote of confidence with a win at Phoenix, but since that celebratory day in the Arizona desert, has seldom found himself smiling when the checkered flag flies. 

Without his victory at Phoenix, Bell would sit just 13th in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, a shocking statistic given his stellar performance over the past two seasons. With one of the best teams in the garage area around him, including a championship winning crew chief in Adam Stevens, he has quickly risen to prominence in the Cup Series, but 2024 has been a season of peaks and valleys for the No. 20 team. 

A third place effort in the Daytona 500 was followed up by two consecutive sub-30th place finishes at Atlanta and Las Vegas. Bell locked himself into the postseason with the aforementioned win at Phoenix, and finally looked like a true title threat over the next three races, with finishes of 10th, second and sixth respectively. 

Bell rose as high as sixth in the regular season standings in this span, and it seemed like the No. 20 team was finally putting together all the pieces for a championship run. 

However, the next four races spelled disaster — Bell finished no better than 17th over the four race stretch, with three finishes of 34th or worse in that span. He rebounded for a sixth place run at Darlington, but after Kansas bore just a 13th place effort, fans were still confused on the potential — or lack thereof — that Bell seemed to show. 

However, a stellar weekend at Charlotte, which included a third place qualifying effort, a stage win, and of course, the race win itself, could be what Bell needs to get his season back on track. 

Of course, it's not like Bell was in a doomsday scenario, as he was already locked into the playoffs by virtue of his Phoenix victory, but it was likely disheartening for fans to see a driver that was thought to be a playoff contender consistently turn in poor efforts. 

While consistency — preferably of the Lee Petty top-10 variety and not of visits to the infield care center — is still needed for Bell to truly prove himself as a title threat, his win in an abbreviated Coke 600 could be the catalyst for one of NASCAR's brightest young stars to go on a summer tear.