Christopher Bell finds himself right back in the NASCAR title hunt after Phoenix

The look of distress etched on Christopher Bell's face after he lost the Oct. 11 NASCAR Cup Series race at Phoenix Raceway by just 0.029 seconds was unmistakable: It was the look of a driver who not only lost a race, but likely thought his shot at a championship had vanished as well. 

One week later, Bell's title hopes were resurrected at Phoenix, thanks to both the misfortune of championship leader Kyle Larson and a fourth-place finish from Bell.

Larson didn't run well all day, but his struggles were exacerbated when he hit the wall late in the race and dropped out, finishing 34th after taking a hard lick into the turn 1 SAFER barrier. That opened the door for anyone in the top seven in the standings to take advantage. 

Tyler Reddick won the race to vault himself back into contention, but Bell was arguably the biggest winner of the day in regard to the standings. 

Christopher Bell happy to still be in NASCAR title fight

"It's going to be a battle, that's for sure," Bell told USA Network. "But we're right there in it. Really proud of our team. They've been doing a really good job of bringing fast race cars, executing races. We've been able to qualify really well, run up front in the stages."

Bell looked like he had the fastest car in the field during the race's middle stages. He finished third in Stages 1 and 2 and led 85 laps. After leading 176 at Phoenix in March, the No. 20 Toyota was once again one of the best cars in the desert on Sunday.

But that speed wavered ever so slightly in Stage 3 and allowed the likes of Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe and eventually, Reddick, to take over control of the race.

"I felt like our performance probably tapered off a little bit as the day went on," Bell said. "We had the right strategy to put tires on at the end. Had good restarts to get some track position. We're in the hunt, that's all you can ask for."