LOUDON, N.H. — Christopher Bell crashed NASCAR’s playoff field a year ago when he chased down Chase Elliott and pulled off a vital win at New Hampshire.

A year later, Bell returned to the track still out in front, only this time on the pole after he turned the fastest qualifying lap of 124.781 mph at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He will lead the field to green for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.

Bell is still chasing in his No. 20 Toyota. Only this season, instead of a playoff berth for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Bell is in the hunt for a regular-season crown that can only strengthen his position over the final 10 playoff races.

Instead of keeping tabs on the drivers on the fringe fighting for a spot in the 16-car field, Bell is fighting for the top spot with William Byron, Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson and other tested veterans.

“I’m sure that everyone that is in that bubble spot is doing the same thing, but here we are – a year later – and you are focusing on those three or four cars who are racing for the points,” Bell said. “One mistake or bad stage and you can lose a lot of points very quickly. William has a little bit of a gap on us, but all it takes is one bad race and he is back there with us. We have a lot of cars that we are trying to keep up with and outrun. I would imagine it’s fun to stay on top of.”

New Hampshire is the start of the final seven-race stretch before the playoff field is set, and the 10-race sprint for the championship opens Sept. 3 at Darlington Raceway. Byron leads the Cup Series with four wins, and 10 other drivers – including Bell, Tyler Reddick and Daytona 500 champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – are in the playoffs with wins this season.

“You look at the 8 car, Kyle Busch, he’s right there in the hunt, and he was buried in the tire barriers at Chicago at Lap 3 and he made it out of it,” Bell said. “All of the teams inside the top-five are doing a really good job of maximizing the day, even when they have adverse conditions, and we are seeing a great points race out of it.”

Kevin Harvick, Chris Buescher, Brad Keselowski, Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell hold the final five spots on points, but nothing is guaranteed without a win. Bubba Wallace, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs and Austin Cindric are the first four out.

Harvick said his Stewart-Haas Racing team is building toward a win if it can escape a few bad breaks.

“You look back at Nashville, the car was so fast. I think we ran the leaders down by like four seconds, and then a tire went flat,” Harvick said. “We had that same thing at Phoenix and at a couple other places, and it just hasn’t worked out.”

Their run toward a checkered flag Sunday starts behind JGR.

JGR swept the front row in Saturday’s qualifying session, with Bell joined by teammate Martin Truex Jr. Truex hit 124.752 mph in his No. 19 Toyota. Ford drivers that took the next three spots, with Aric Almirola followed by Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney.

Bell won his first pole of the season and fifth in 128 career Cup races.

Truex will start in the top 10 for the 19th time in 30 career races at New Hampshire.

Bell has clearly mastered the track where he won Xfinity Series races in 2018, 2019 and 2021 and was second in the Cup race in 2021.

“I have one of the best race cars that I’ve had all year this weekend,” Bell said. “The 20 group needs to capitalize on that and capture as many points as we can. This is a pivotal race for the regular-season championship.”

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