Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Christopher Bell, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver who won at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday to lock himself into NASCAR’s Championship 4 for the second straight year. This interview has been edited for clarity. The full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast.
1. You must pick one chore or obligation to do every day for a year. But if you make it the whole year doing this, you never have to do it again for the rest of your life. So what would you like to knock out forever?
The January pictures at Media Day, where it’s “hands on hips,” “hands crossed,” “hands by your side,” “smile,” “serious.” All that stuff.
Maybe in the future with AI, you won’t have to do them. They’ll just age you one year.
Perfect.
2. Can you describe how you are as a passenger in a street car?
There’s two sides. If I’m trying to pay attention, it’s very difficult for me to be a passenger. I definitely am the backseat driver. But if it’s someone I trust, then I just try and disengage and not pay attention at all about where we’re going. And then I can do pretty good; I can be a passenger and keep my mouth shut and just ride along. But I have to be completely disengaged.
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3. What is an app on your phone you love using and think more people should know about?
The Apple TV remote. I feel like most people don’t know about that. I love being able to control whatever you’re doing by your phone. Because you always have your phone on you. I have this system in my house where like I can turn the TV on or off or volume or whatever, so I can do everything with my phone.
It’s a totally underrated thing. You’re right, because I only recently sort of discovered this and I was like, “Has this been there the whole time? Why am I getting up to get the remote when I could just use my phone?”
That’s right. You’ve got your phone right on you, yep.
4. What do you do to make yourself feel better when you having a crappy day?
Surround myself with people I know — family, friends, pets. They’re the people I go to. Either go out to eat with friends or sit my dog; whenever you get home, she doesn’t know if you have a good or bad day.
5. I’m glad you mentioned dogs because this next question is dog-related. I’ve been asking people to give me “Dear Abby”-type advice column questions and I’m mixing them up with each driver. So this one is randomly for you: “I live with my girlfriend and we have one dog but I want another one. She says one dog is enough. Should I just come home one day with a puppy and deal with the ramifications? Or should I keep trying to convince her our dog needs a playmate?”
That literally is my life — 180 though. (Wife) Morgan really wants another dog, and I don’t want another dog. So my advice is no, don’t do it.
6. You came up through the dirt ranks, but I’m watching all these parents in the garage putting their kids in different stuff. Kevin Harvick is doing something different with Keelan than Kyle Busch is doing with Brexton and Kyle Larson with Owen, right? If you have a kid someday and you want them to race, what vehicles would you want to put them in or feel like is the best path for them?
As I have gotten older and experienced NASCAR in the Cup Series, I really think it doesn’t matter. You can grow up being in go-karts, Bandoleros, dirt cars — but it’s all about winning. If you win, you’re going to get opportunities. Everyone says it takes money, and it does take money to a certain extent — but if you don’t win, then you’re not going to sustain it.
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My life right now is in Charlotte, and thankfully, micro sprints are getting more popular (there). That’s what I grew up doing (in Oklahoma). So I would guess my kid would be doing that, but ultimately I don’t think it matters. If you win enough and you separate yourself from the competition, then you’re going to get opportunities at the next level.
7. This is a wild-card question where I’m mixing it up for each person. In our 2018 12 Questions, you gave a question for the next person, which was: “What drives you? Why do you go race?” So I wanted to turn that on you. How would you answer that for why you go race?
Why do I go race? I go race because I love the sport of racing. I love driving race cars, I love the competition. I love the fact that it’s you and 35 other competitors out there. I strive to be the best. I want to be the best and I want to win. And I love what we do.
8. In your career, what is the deal that came closest to happening that ended up not working out?
So this is an interesting one that not many people know. In 2014, I got offered a Roush contract. It was lined up for me to go run full-time ARCA in 2015. At the time I was driving for Toyota and they didn’t have the driver development conga line or path they have today. They were trying to figure it out. (Toyota Racing Development executives) Tyler Gibbs and Jack Irving were trying to figure out what to do, how we’re going to do this. This was just on the heels of (Kyle) Larson becoming a superstar after driving Toyota dirt cars.
I had this Roush contract in front of me, and it was pretty spelled out how I was going to become a Cup driver. And (Toyota) was like, “Man, we can’t do that. We don’t have the path and the way to get you to Cup, but if you put your faith in us, we’re going to try our best to make it happen.”
I think my alternative was full-time ARCA (with Ford) or a handful of late-model races (with Toyota). I took the handful of late-model races and the rest is history. I am so happy that obviously it worked out the way it did.
GO DEEPER
Christopher Bell, NASCAR's Mr. Clutch, proves his mettle again at Homestead
10. Who is someone you would be starstruck by when meeting them?
Right now, man, it’s Coach Prime (Colorado football head coach Deion Sanders). I would love, love to meet Coach Prime. His outlook and his train of thoughts, the way he views life — I admire it deeply and I would love to meet Coach Prime. He’s the man.
10. What is the single most important skill a race car driver can possess?
The feel of the race car. Just being able to know how hard you can take it in the corner, how hard you can pick up the accelerator on corner exit, how much brake you need to use. The greatest drivers have the greatest feel.
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11. What life lessons from a young age stick with you and affect your daily decisions as an adult?
That’s deep. I try and do my best to treat everybody as I want to be treated — whether that’s on the racetrack or off the racetrack. I try my hardest to not make enemies. I understand not everyone is going to like you. But that’s one that has stuck with me for sure.
12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next person. I promise this was 100 percent unintentional, but the last one was with Daniel Suárez (with whom Bell had a recent run-in at the Charlotte Roval). He says: “You’ve done a good job on road courses the last few years despite that not being your background. What do you credit that success to?”
That was very friendly, Daniel.
I credit it 100 percent to having good race cars. The hardest thing I had to focus on the most as a driver has been the brake zones — and I’m still not great at brake zones and maximizing the brakes. But I say it time and time again: It’s all about the race car. If you’ve got a good race car, it makes your job a lot easier. So I think I’ve got really good cars to drive.
The next interview is going to be with Landon Cassill. Do you have a question I might be able to ask Landon?
He’s a guy who has been around for a while. What track needs to be added to the schedule?
GO DEEPER
Top 5, Homestead: NASCAR playoffs get shaken up, track proves its worth again
(Photo: James Gilbert / Getty Images)
