In addition to racing his midget in last month’s Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals, Bell has spent the offseason preparing for his move to the NASCAR Cup Series with Leavine Family Racing.
“The biggest thing is getting acclimated to the team and how the team works,” he said about the transition. “I’m spending time at the shop, getting to know the guys. I’m pretty fortunate that there are a couple of guys that I’m already comfortable around and, obviously, Jason Ratcliff, my crew chief, is going to be coming with me, so that’s great.
“Still having Jason as my crew chief is huge because he’s going to provide me a level of comfort. I feel like he’s on my side. He’s raced with me, so he understands my skillset and, hopefully, we are able to translate that into results at the race track.”
When asked about the challenges he expects to face in the Cup Series, Bell said, “The competition is going to be tremendously tougher, but also the longer races. For me, I think that’s going to be the hardest part, dealing with the length of the races. It’s just going to be a matter of getting accustomed to it and once I do that it will become normal.
“Also, I think a lot of it will have to do with how well I adapt to the rules package in the Cup Series. The Xfinity cars, for whatever reason, fit me pretty well, so there wasn’t that much of a learning curve in the Xfinity cars, but the Cup Series cars right now are drastically different than the Xfinity Series cars, so I think a lot of it will depend on how quickly I can pick that up.”
Along with Bell’s arrival at Leavine Family Racing comes an upgraded alliance among the single-car team, Toyota Racing Development and Joe Gibbs Racing.
“The easiest way to characterize the alliance is it’s akin to what we had among TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing a couple of years ago,” said David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development. “Certainly not going to get into the detail of it, but enhanced hardware, enhanced communication, sharing of information, the tools that TRD provides will be further enhanced, time available on our sim and again, everything that TRD brings to the table is going to be the same as what it has been with Joe Gibbs Racing.”
Bell has very realistic expectations heading into his rookie season in the NASCAR Cup Series.
“I just want to be competitive. I want to have good solid runs,” he said. “Obviously, winning would be great. However, I understand that winning will be very difficult, but if we are competitive with our (Toyota) teammates, we’ll be happy.”
Bell is a role model for young, dirt-track racers across the country who aspire to ascend through the ranks and one day race in NASCAR’s premier series. He has succeeded the old-fashioned way — on talent, not money — and he has some advice for those hoping to follow in his tire tracks.
“Never give up hope. There is a lot of talk about how you can’t go anywhere without money, and, yea, it is an expensive sport, but everybody wants a winner,” Bell said. “The thing is that if you win races, you will get opportunities and then you have to make the most of those opportunities.”
Bell has certainly done just that.