Bell, an innocent bystander in Vegas, returned for the 8-ball in the playoffs

Christopher Bell is back in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, but this time through no fault of his own after being caught in the Bubba Wallace-Kyle Larson mess at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Bell was collected on the front on lap 95 as Wallace spun Kyle Larson around the track. Wallace seemed to get his revenge after the #5 raced him around turn four, causing the 23XI driver to bounce off the wall.

Bell’s No. 20 Toyota was heavily damaged when Larson’s Chevrolet left the track, hitting him and then the wall. Although the Joe Gibbs Racing team attempted to repair pit road, the 10-minute clock in the damaged car policy expired and Bell was forced to retire from the race.

“It’s simple [No. 45], Bubba, hit a wall and obviously revenge is on his side,” Bell said. “We got the short end of the stick.”

Bell will finish 34th and will likely be last on the playoff grid when the South Point 400 is completed. He was running in the top 10 when the crash occurred.

“It’s disappointing because our performance is capable of challenging for the championship and it doesn’t look like we’re going to get there,” said Bell, an innocent bystander. “Just disappointing.”

Bell and Wallace are Toyota teammates. Bell said he didn’t know if Wallace should be punished for what appeared to be intentional.

“Go [the] protocol of what they have [NASCAR] done in the past,” he said.

Unfortunately, falling behind in the playoffs is not uncommon for Bell. In the final round, he faced a must-win situation at Charlotte Roval to advance to the third round — one that also began with a DNF in the first race. Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway are next on the schedule.

“The good thing is that I feel better about winning one of those two races than winning the Roval,” Bell said. “We’ve had very, very strong Camrys, really all year. We’ll see if we can pull another rabbit out of the hat.”