I figured it would take a bit for Christopher Bell to adjust to life in the NASCAR Cup Series, but when he did, it wouldn’t be long before he’s contending for win. See, Bell is a dirt racer by nature. He like to run up by the wall, slinging a loose race car through the corners. That’s why he was so good in the NASCAR Xfinity Series because those race cars had higher horsepower and lower downforce. The NASCAR Cup Series though, well those cars have the opposite.

That’s why it took Kyle Larson so long to adapt last year. He has a similar driving style to Bell.

Also, Bell has never ran races longer than 300 miles in length before. Being able to pace yourself as well as your car for longer races was something he had to learn as well.

Now that he’s nine races in, he’s starting to hit his stride. Last Sunday at the Bristol (Tenn) Motor Speedway, Bell brought his No. 95 Toyota home ninth. It was his third top 11 finish in his last four starts on the season.

“We battled back and have begun to see some results, which is good,” Bell said of his second top 10 in three races. “It’s nice to be getting some results after the start of the season we had. We are continuing to build and get better, which is the goal.”

Bell, said his goal is to just keep learning each race and that’s he’s already learning more and more by the week.

“I’m learning more every race. Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) is new with this Cup Series package, and as we continue to go back to the tracks we are continuing to grow and learn as a team,” Bell continued.

Now, it’s to a track that statistically has been good to Bell — Atlanta Motor Speedway. In 2017, Bell dominated the Truck Series race on the 1.54-mile Georgia race track. In 2018, he finished third in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Last year, he won the NXS race. That’s three straight top three finishes after scoring three top 11’s in his last four starts on the Cup season.

He’s a long shot according to Vegas, but I don’t see it that way this weekend.