Losing out on Bristol win "terribly disappointing" for Bell

That’s not surprising considering how well he and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team performed to begin the playoffs but weren’t able to capitalize with a victory.

Bell, 27, was leading Saturday night’s race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway when he had a flat right-rear tire and tagged the wall on Lap 436 of 500.

He managed to rally to a fourth-place finish, giving him a first round of fifth, third and fourth – the best performance of the 16 playoff drivers.

However, because the points are reset to begin Round 2 and Bell didn’t add to his win total, he drops from points leader to seventh among the 12 remaining drivers. He will enter Texas with 13 playoff points, 27 behind leader Chase Elliott.

“It’s terribly disappointing. That’s two weeks in a row we have had speed, and the car underneath me to win the race, and haven’t done it,” Bell said. “Extremely proud of this No. 20 group. They keep bringing Camrys that are incredible to the race track.

“It makes me really excited about where we are going, especially Texas – which is one of my best race tracks. I proud of everyone on this group. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum.”

The second round will be filled with tough challenges with Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway and the Charlotte Roval following Texas, which makes next weekend’s race even more important.

Luckily for Bell, he has been strong on intermediate tracks and in three career starts, he’s finished 21st, third and third.

“Looking at the next seven races, I would say Texas is arguably the most important race, outside of Phoenix (the championship race),” Bell said. “Talladega, we all know how that is – there is going to be some lucky guys, and some unlucky guys.

“Texas is kind of the one place where you can control your destiny into the next round and the winner is going to feel really good if it is a playoff car.”