Christopher Bell talks with Alex Weaver after qualifying at Homestead-Miami Speedway about defending his win from a year ago.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Here in the NASCAR Cup Series garage after practice and qualifying with Christopher Bell at Homestead, Miami Speedway
00:05reigning winner of this race
00:07You had some speed in qualifying, but how are you feeling about your chances in tomorrow's race?
00:11I I feel really comfortable and that's something that says a lot about this place and especially for me
00:16it hasn't been one of my favorite tracks, but
00:19Practice was eventful and we took off and the car wasn't driving exactly how I wanted it to and then we ended up getting a flat
00:24Tire, which could have been really really bad if we drug the underbody. So fortunately we were able to
00:29Catch it and Adam told me to pull it in before it got worse
00:33And I think we saved our day. So we had a really good qualifying effort. We're in position to get some stage points
00:38So yeah, it's gonna be an important a day tomorrow
00:39You don't normally hear a driver who has had success at a racetrack say that this is not their favorite place
00:44Why do you not like this racetrack? I just I have a lot of heartbreak from this place. I made
00:51Four championship fours between the truck series and the Xfinity series and I only got one championship out of it
00:57So the Xfinity car, I don't know
00:59It just you know
01:00We won a bunch of races and we're just really competitive everywhere
01:03And then every time we came here, we just we didn't execute and we didn't run good
01:06So the cup series has been a little bit different. I think I got my first ever top ten here
01:11So that was awesome. And then obviously a huge win last year. So
01:15Maybe the cup cup car is a turning point for me here at this racetrack
01:18But those Xfinity championship losses hurt really bad
01:22Knowing what you're able to do here the type of speed that your team brings you
01:26I also want to talk about what you can manage inside of the race car given how aggressive and
01:31Minute details are when it comes to homestead Miami Speedway about making mistakes. How crucial is that for a driver in tomorrow's race?
01:37Yeah, I mean it's everything, you know, obviously there's a lot of pace right by the wall, but these cars
01:42They're different than the old cup car because if you touch the wall of the old cup car, you'd hurt the body
01:46Well, you're not gonna hurt the body on this but you can hurt the toe link
01:49So yeah
01:50Keeping the car clean making sure that you're around at the end of the race with the clean car and your tires are still pointed
01:56In the right direction is is everything and it's super important
01:59So I'm sure we'll see a couple guys right up by the wall early in stage one
02:04And at some point in the race, you're gonna have to be up there because that's where the pace is gonna be
02:07So yeah, just a long race here that the lap times are really really slow. So mile length
02:13It's the same as all of them, but the overall duration is really long. So
02:18Just puts more emphasis on being there at the end
02:20You the first one to try it first one to go up there
02:22I will not be the first one to go up there. So yeah, I mean I
02:26last year we got our car going really good down the racetrack and
02:31The race played out to us where we had a shorter run at the end and I was able to win
02:35So, you know, it's all gonna come down to the yellow flags
02:38If the third stage goes green
02:39then we're gonna have to be up by the wall in order to win the race if the race, you know is broken up with
02:44Yellow flags and you have a shorter run to the checkered flag. You're not gonna have to be up there. I have some fun
02:50Okay, I will have fun. That's for sure