Christopher Bell reacts to Ryan Blaney blocking for Joey Logano at Las Vegas

Despite being the best car on the day, Christopher Bell fell short in Las Vegas. Did Ryan Blaney play a role in that? Bell fell short in the NASCAR Playoffs at Vegas, and it might be because Team Penske worked so well together.

Joey Logano won in a fuel-saving strategy once again. It isn’t always the fastest car and driver who wins every race. It never has been that way in racing, especially stock car racing. Ryan Blaney finished P32, but stuck close to Logano late in the race.

After the finish, Christopher Bell talked about the last few laps and Blaney’s influence on the finish. He wasn’t upset and understood why Blaney would help Logano.

“Regardless of how much time he had, the 12 car was with Joey trying to play defense for him. So, it was going to take the right move to get by him but we had, what was it, 30 almost 40 lap newer tires? … I think it’s fair game and you know, props to him,” said Bell, via Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports. “I think the 22 winning was probably bad for the 12. Because they’re racing each other for points to get in. So, you know, Penske, they won the race and got one car in so they did it right.”

Bell fell short. P2 on the day. He had a great points day, but none of that matters when the checkered flag was so close to being his. It is yet another Las Vegas race that ends in heartbreak for Bell and his team. They have not been able to put together a full day at this track for this playoff race.

Christopher Bell falls short to Joey Logano at Las Vegas

One week ago, Joey Logano thought his season was over. Then, Alex Bowman, was DQ’d from the Roval in postrace inspection. Now, Logano is locked into Phoenix! Like he did in 2018 and 2022, Logano wins at Las Vegas and he’s ready to spend the next two weeks focusing on Phoenix. Amazing.

The one driver that the rest of the NASCAR Playoff field didn’t want to see in this round is Joey Logano. Team Penske and Logano are too good at Las Vegas. They have been so good in these fuel-saving races. Credit Paul Wolfe for that.

Christopher Bell led the most laps and thought he had the strategy to catch up to Logano. However, it wasn’t enough. Bell was able to get within half a second of Logano by the finish, but it wasn’t enough.

Bell and his team had a great race. It just wasn’t enough given the circumstances of the cautions and the final stage. Once it became about fuel-saving and Bell went to pit road, the 20 team made a huge gamble. It didn’t pay off.

Despite the disappointing finish at Las Vegas, Christopher Bell has a great chance to earn points or even win at Homestead-Miami. He won that race a year ago and is hoping for a repeat to get himself to Phoenix.