Kevin Harvick gives strong take on Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, future of Joe Gibbs Racing

Kevin Harvick provided a strong take on Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin and the future of Joe Gibbs Racing as a whole following Bell’s win at Phoenix.

Evidently, Harvick believes Bell doesn’t receive the adulation he deserves for how talented he is behind the wheel, which the former NASCAR champion theorized is because his personality would rather see him outside of the limelight.

“I think Christopher Bell, from a performance standpoint, should be one of the favorites,” Harvick stated, via his Harvick’s Happy Hour show on FOX. “I think his personality and his demeanor, almost take him out of those conversations, because you never — he never really says anything that’s controversial. He never goes over the top to, you know, to voice his opinion on something that he doesn’t like. I’m not saying that there’s anything right or wrong with that. I’m just saying that, I think his his demeanor and the way that he approaches things is purely for racing, and he just wants to drive the car and perform with what he’s supposed to do, and he doesn’t want to create the chaos and excitement.

“I think, the media side of things, they want they want something that’s a that’s a bigger story. But I do think that Christopher Bell has the capability to not say anything, and win enough races, to make you talk about him all the time. Yeah, I think he’s going to win. We’re going to talk about him. There’s a good possibility he could just win again, and we’re going to have to keep talking about him. It doesn’t matter if he is exciting or not exciting off the racetrack, because they have the capability to be that exciting week in and week out.”

Alas, you don’t need an entertaining personality to get to Victory Lane, which Harvick relented. Regardless, he wanted to give Bell his flowers, and he even stated that when Hamlin decided to hang it up, Bell will be a worthy successor as the leader of Joe Gibbs Racing.

“I think he’s got a great personality. Sometimes it’s — different people react in different ways, when they get in front of the microphone or you know, in front of people that they know want you to say something bad, or they want you to say something controversial. And Christopher is never going to get in the middle of that, because that’s just not not who he is,” Harvick added. “He’s a great — he’s one of the best race car drivers out there. I think he has matured through this whole process, through the years.

“If Denny Hamlin came and said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna retire today,’ I think that he could step right in there and be the leader of Joe Gibbs Racing, and I think that they’re neck and neck from a performance standpoint. The No. 11 and No. 20.”

Alas, Christopher Bell may not be a media darling, but he certainly will be contended for a win week-in and week-out moving forward. That should be enough to keep Kevin Harvick and the rest of the broadcast team singing his praises moving forward.