Christopher Bell entered the 2025 playoffs with plenty of optimism, and for good reason. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has been one of the steadiest performers all season long, keeping himself in the mix with consistent top-10s and flashes of race-winning speed. While he came up short in the regular season championship battle, Bell’s form made him a dark-horse favorite for a deep postseason run.

At Darlington, the opener of the playoff grind, he rolled off seventh on the grid (third among the Gibbs stable), setting himself up for what looked like a promising night. But instead of making headlines for his pace, Bell found himself tangled in a pit road controversy that had insiders pointing fingers not at drivers, but at the men atop the pit box.

Pit-road chaos at Darlington leaves Christoph

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