Christopher Bell suffers another Martinsville heartbreak

For the second year in a row, Martinsville Speedway ended Christopher Bell's NASCAR championship hopes and ripped his heart out. 

Bell, who missed the Championship 4 in 2024 on a technicality after a race manipulation controversy, fell seven points shy of advancing to NASCAR's championship race after finishing seventh in Sunday's Xfinity 500. 

With William Byron taking the race win, Bell needed to outduel fellow playoff driver Kyle Larson on points to advance to Phoenix for the third time in four years. 

But Bell, who finished eighth in Stage 1 and third in Stage 2, couldn't do enough to get around Larson in the standings. Larson finished two spots ahead of Bell in fifth, and Larson's six-point advantage on Bell in the stages was enough to knock Bell out of title contention. 

Christopher Bell comes oh-so-close to advancing again 

"You know that it's going to take everything here at Martinsville, and ultimately, we got beat," Bell told reporters after the race. "We weren't good enough. That's it."