Christopher Bell calls out 'fixed' Martinsville race, feels 'cheated' out of NASCAR championship berth

For Christopher Bell, last week’s fallout at Martinsville still stings. You can tell by the comments he made this weekend at Phoenix. Bell was found to have violated the anti-wall ride rule and was penalized, missing out on the NASCAR Championship 4.

Christopher Bell made the Championship 4 each of the last two seasons. However, he came up short after his penalty at Martinsville for his sort of Hail Melon move, ala Ross Chastain.

A week later, Bell is holding firm. He believes that Chevy committed race manipulation by having Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain block for William Byron. But NASCAR did not see it that way.

“Uh, yeah I mean, I think that uh – I hate calling the last lap ‘a move.’ Because it was not a ‘move.’ You know, my intentions were never to ride the wall, I didn’t gain an advantage riding the wall, so it was not a move, and I don’t believe I broke the rule,” Bell insisted during his media availability.

With all that was going on with Chevy and Toyota late in that race, that partial wall ride gave NASCAR an out. By the book, it was a penalty. He rode the wall out of Turn 3, and completely around Turn 4.

Christopher Bell didn’t stop there, though.

Christopher Bell feels ‘cheated’

So, how does he feel about the ruling? Well, Christopher Bell didn’t hold back as he continued to talk about Martinsville.

“I just, I feel cheated. I feel cheated out of a chance to compete for a championship,” Bell continued. “Yeah, it all stems from what happened, er, 15, 20 to go whenever the race got fixed and manipulated by Chevrolet. That forced our hands to do what we did and ultimately it forced me into a mistake on the last lap to get into the wall. And I feel like I should never have been in that position had the race been ran fairly the 24 car would have lost enough spots to get me into the final race.”

Those are very strong words. Bell feels cheated, he used the word “fixed.” You don’t just throw that kind of stuff around if you don’t mean it, especially in the highest level of stock car racing.

Christopher Bell is clearly upset. He should be. He is a competitor and a potential champion in the Cup Series one day. But I’m not sure he was truly cheated this time around. Although last week’s antics still don’t sit right with me.