You're listening to the downbeat on ninety seven one. The freak Nascar man Christopher
Bell calling in momentarily new report out, guys, the report out here top
night. Answers are on the board. Germiest places in the office, bathroom,
bathroom bump bump, bump, ump, bump, bump, ump,
bump, up bump. Yes, but number six, Danny, I will
go with coffee maker. Yes. Is that kitchen. That's count's kitchen.
Mike board here, new report out just this morning, nine jermist places,
nine Germy spots in your office. Number six gone, Mike door handle,
Oh yes, number one answer, all right, elevator button number, keyboard
mouse. I think it's all okay. Computer's a computer. I don't know.
Pass. That's two strikes. Chair chair. I still want to go
back to break room. I'm thinking either that or let's go with water fountain,
water cooler. Oh, yeah, that's water cooler. Yes, correct,
Number five sink. Technically that would have been Danny wins because you missed
yours sink. He just wanted you to know that you lost, just now
that you're a loser. That's what he was doing. Sink with the all
of your bathroom I think is what they're going with here. But there's a
there's a breakroom sink too, which was weird to Secretary. Their hands in
the breakroom sink, Secretary not one of the germiest spots. Jesus Secretary's chair,
No stepskin waves, microphone number three, desk, desk, desk number
four, microwave, microwave, okay, coffee maker microwave. No, they're
too different, these things that Kevin doesn't have in his kitchen. I have
a microwave, and I don't need a coffee maker. When I make cold
bruise that it will oppress. That makes pretty good. What else is on
the bathroom elevator? Buttons, vending machines, and your phone? Your phone?
I love impromptu family feud. Doesn't like it anymore. It seems like
he's really down on it. I like it. But keyboard yes number two,
Yeah, it's not up here. It's not that he doesn't like it.
It's just that winning kind of cultivates a culture of positivity, and when
you're on a losing streak like Mikey's been on for god what seems like decades
in life and games. I saw here's a report just dropped nine boom.
It's perfect fodder. Before our guest, who is calling on the hotline,
JJ is talking to him, the problem with your games, I feel like
is I'm too smart and that's holding me back. That's an indictment of you.
That's holding me back in your games. You thinking that it's true.
Look at JJ's talking NASCAR with Christopher Bell. You know, Mike that the
Auto Trader Echo Park Automotive four hundred is not this weekend but next weekend for
NASCAR's Triple Header weekend. Yes, I did, Yes, I do.
And that's gonna have to wait until the Cookout four hundred and Martinsville is done
this weekend and racing in both of those things. And I'm predicting too.
Victory is our next guest. He is from Norman, Oklahoma. He's driving
the number twenty Toyota for Joe Gibbs racing right there in the NASCAR Cup Series.
We have Christopher Bell joining us live on ninety seven to won the freak.
Hi, Christopher Bell, hey man, I like that prediction. I
really like that prediction. Two in a row, Dude, we got Phoenix.
We could have got the last couple too, But I feel like we're
about to rattle off some checkered coming up, and I know you feel the
same way because you're riding a damn rocket. We had second at Coda,
six at Richmond, and life's got to be pretty good. Man. This
is looking like a championship season. That's what I'm thinking, Chris. You
it's been going good man. The Coda Cota was so close, and then
Richmond was tough to swallow as well, because we were right there, you
know, in position, and I sped on Pitt Road. But to come
back and finish sixth was you know, it was like a bittersweet moment.
Right after speeding. I thought for sure that my day was gonna be a
lot worse than six. So we usually just kind of screw around and have
fun on the show, but I do have some NASCAR stuff, and you
brought it up. Speeding on Pitt Road always is a mystery to me the
fan. I've seen it in multiple disciplines. I don't remember. I was
at the Indy five hundred a few years ago and somebody cost themselves the whole
race just by speeding on Pitt Road. It's such a penal thing. How
hard is it for you? I mean, I know there's a line or
a barrier where you know you need to be down to a certain speed.
Are you just slamming on the brakes if you're one mile an hour over?
Do they ding you? Like, describe how that happens? Yeah, I
mean, so it's it's time over distance. So they have scoring lines in
the pit road and they know that it takes whatever it is x amount of
seconds to go from you know, one line to the next, so there
is a little bit of leeway where if you're going a little bit too fast
at the you know, the first part of the timing loop, you can
slow down and give it back. But essentially, you know, we don't
have spitometers inside the car. All we have is just our RPM reading.
So your your team will give you an an rpm reading that you have to
stay underneath. And you know, it's it sounds really easy to just not
speed, but the problem is is that everyone is pushing it to the max,
and if you don't push it, it's a you know, a huge
deficit and you're going to give up a lot of positions on pit roads.
So you know, it's it's it's a if you're over by you know,
point oh, one of a mile an hour, you're you're gonna get penalized.
So it's all about getting as close as you can without going over man.
And I kind of almost a dumb question because I know the answer.
But right when you get word in your ear that they got us speeding on
pit Row, are you just oh your heart sinking? Yeah, it's it's
bad. And you know, under yellow flag conditions, if you get caught
speeding, you gotta you know, you drop to the back. And then
under green flag conditions, if you get caught speeding, you got to come
down pit Road and make that dreaded path through penalty where you're going forty five
five miles an hour all the way down the front stretch and the entire field
is passing you going like one hundred and twenty, one hundred and thirty,
so it feels like you're crawling. Driver of the number twenty Yahoo Tyota Camry
for Joe Gibbs Racing. It's Christopher Bell joining us on the downbeat. We're
gonna be the triple header. We're two weeks away here, get your tickets
at Texas Motorspeedway dot com. Now Christopher us three me, Mike and Danny
were former night owls who now you know, do morning radio. So we
got to get up early. And I read an interview that you did about
how your habits changed from your dirt racing days to the NASCAR lifestyle. Yeah,
I was, I was right there with you, man. It sounds
like a similar story. I grew up dirt track racing, and all dirt
track racing is at nighttime. So the normal schedule would be to you know,
your race at seven, eight, and they'll run into you know,
ten eleven o'clock at night, and then you would have to go and and
you know, find food afterwards, maybe wash the car. So you're up
until the late hours or the early hours of the morning, and you'd sleep
in and the until lunchtime and you go again. And then it took me
a while to adjust to the normal people's schedule, that's for sure. What
time do you wake up? Now? I have a hard time sleeping in
past nine, so I would say seven to eight is my normal normal room.
Oh my god, sleep until eight sounds so good, Christopher, that
sounds Christopher. You're a Norman, Oklahoma kid, right, I am?
Okay? So how long? Maybe? How long? There you go?
So how long were you there before you you you moved away, So I
actually moved out of Oklahoma whenever I was seventeen. Okay, so yeah,
but you gave us a nice boomer obviously a big OU supporter. Did you
growing up or even like going back to games and stuff, have you developed
any kind of adult relationship with some of the old guard there, like coach
Switzer or anybody like that. I I have not. You know, I'm
a I'm a big fan and I watch all the football games on TV and
stuff like that, but I actually do not know any of the coaches.
Obviously, Bob Suits he was the legendary coach on where I was there,
so he's he's my guy. One quote him. Here's one question that I've
always wondered, and I know it's different from team sports like the NBA.
You see these guys seem to be whether they're on opposing teams or or or
not, they all kind of know each other. They played for other teams,
they have friendships. I was wondering, and it may be like this
in golf too, I don't know. But in your sport, how how
difficult is it to have relationships like friendships with other guys that you're racing against.
Is that something that you maintain or cultivate or is it pretty much you're
worried about your own scene and when you're not racing, it's family time,
hanging out in North Carolina with the wife or whatever. Do you have like
good buddies that are that are also racing as well or is that kind of
something that's that's not really a status quo in an individual sport. Yeah,
I mean it's actually a very interesting topic, and I think the question or
the answer is different for you know, different drivers in the series. And
I've heard guys say that their competitors are their enemies and they're never going to
be friends with their competitors. And then you know, you have other guys
who have best friends in the industry that they compete against on a weekly basis,
So you know, I think everybody has a little bit different mentality on
it. For me, I probably am indifferent, Like if if I,
you know, meet someone that I race against and we have a lot in
common, then you know we might be friends. Like myself and probably my
closest guys in the in the sport right now are Daniel Hemrick and John Hunter
Nimachek. Who are two guys that you know I've raced against at times and
then we're in different series at times, and now you know we're racing against
each other again, and so yeah, I mean, I think the answer
is a little bit different for every person. Christopher Bell, I do have
to ask you about an incident that happened down in Austin, just a couple
hours south to hear with a guy who maybe isn't your friend at least this
week it's Kyle Busch. You guys had a kind of a situation and I
understand you did speak and bury the hatchet, but I want to ask,
I guess, is that hatchet ever truly buried? And do you how often
do you guys are concerned with on track retaliation for an incident that happened maybe
weeks ago or months ago, And how often does it happen? I mean,
it happens a lot. And we saw we saw at the end of
Richmond, you know, there was a lot of beating and banging and people
upset with each other. So you know, I would say it's a weekly
thing, and some tracks lead to more contact than other tracks. Austin is
you know, a place where there's a lot of break zones, and you
know, you're going from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles an hour
all the way down to twenty or thirty, and you're trying to outbreak people
and make a hard corner. So it leads to contact in those areas.
And you know, Kyle Bush and I have a you know, a long
standing relationship because I drove for him whenever I first got into the sport in
twenty fifteen, and so he was my boss for a period of time and
then he turned into my teammate for a period of time, and you know,
we have a really good respect for each other, and you know from
obviously my standpoint is a little bit different than his because I was on the
winning side of it. But you know, I hope that I hope it's
that the hatchets buried and we're moving on. But you know, we talked
about it, and I'm sure that, yeah, I don't know, I
don't know where he stands on it, do you? I mean, do
you then, just by nature have to keep an eye on your mirrors and
if you see Bush right on your bumper, I mean, is it a
cross your mind, like, all right, I got to raise a little
differently because this retaliation might be around any of the next corners. I mean,
not not really like I think some people. Yes, but my style
and my thought process is just trying to race everybody with respect. And you
know, I made a mistake and got into him and you know, spun
him out and I was on the winning side of it. He was on
the losing side of it. But it wasn't intentional, Like I didn't go
in there trying to wreck him. So if he's behind me and he's faster
than me, I you know, I would have let him go five weeks
ago and and I'll let him go next week. So you know, from
my standpoint, I'm not going to race him any differently than I would and
just try and you know, treat him with respect, race them with respect.
And you know, maybe if the roles are reversed and I'm faster than
him, he might not cut me a break if he normally would. But
you know, time will tell. Yeah, I imagine that, you know,
your sport, it's a cross section of society when it comes to you
know, personality types, and I would imagine that the ability to manage one's
emotions when out there on the track, when it comes to a situation where,
look, there's a guy that has wronged you on the track before,
for you to not use that initial instinct to kind of get back at him,
because you've always got to keep in mind. It's like, it's not
just about maybe you and the dude you've got a feud with, You've got
you know, twenty five other guys behind you that their livelihoods depend on this
as well. So, I mean, keeping your emotions in check has got
to be like one of the top priorities when you're out there, you know,
an inch from each other going two hundred miles an hour. Yeah,
I mean, it's it's a big deal. And there's just so much don't
I don't know if pressure is the right word, but there's so many people
that are invested in what we do, right, So you know, each
car has millions of dollars in sponsorship and countless hours of resources trying to build
this car, and and you know a little bit of it, like I'm
a symbol for all the people that have, you know, put effort into
this car, building this car, all their families that are you know,
having to sacrifice time with their loved ones preparing these things, and then all
the sponsorship dollars they go into this, and you know there's a there's a
lot on the line for every single competitor in every single car. So yeah,
it's it's a big deal. This is Christopher Bell, who you can
see here in DFW in a couple of weeks at the Auto Trader Echo Park
Automotive four hundred tickets at Texas Motorspeedway dot com. Now, Christopher, you're
twenty nine. We're a bit older than you. Have you ever seen the
movie Days of Thunder. I don't know that I've ever watched it fully through,
but I've definitely seen parts of it. Yeah, and you've heard of
it. So if you could name, I'm gonna put you on the spot
here one celebrity spotter. Okay, so you're trusting them, they're watching everyone
around you, big name celebrity. Who would it be a celebrity to spot
for me? Oh man, I have no earthly idea. It would have
to be a singer, right, I don't know, Maybe like a Morgan
Freeman, someone with a very calming voice. Yeah, I don't know.
I'm thinking more like a country music artist. Maybe, like I don't know
Toby Keith, he's a fellow. Wow, yeah, yeah, Harry Underwood
maybe. So it's great that in the movie Days It's under Robert Duval is
the crew chief and he's outstanding that movie. That that would be my crew
chief or spot Her if I could choose. You should watch that. I
know you don't have time these days as you're busy, you know, especially
talking with us for ten minutes. We appreciate, appreciate having you. Man.
I have a non racing question, Christopher Bell it's kind of racing.
But my brother is a big Christopher Bell Man. He's a card collector and
he has like fifty Chris for Bell, like rookie cards and all this stuff.
So he loves the hell out of you. But I always wonder the
day you have to, like sign all the little plastic things, you know,
Like, is do you budget like a day when you have to I
know you guys sign god as many autographs as anyone on earth, But how
do you spend that day when you have to sign for like a card?
Companies? Spend all day with a sharpie in your hand. Yeah, I
normally try and break it up and do, like, you know, bits
and pieces of it, so we'll get I mean, I don't know.
There's sometimes there's twenty cards, sometimes there's a thousand cards. And whenever you
get those big chunks, typically they'll give us, you know, like a
I don't know, a week time frame or whatever, and I'll do X
amount per day and try and not make sure that they look good. But
uh yeah, we do sign a lot of autographs. All right, Well,
we're all pulling for you, certainly my brother for those cards value.
All right, dude, cook Out four hundred and Martinsville is this weekend.
I know you've won there. You've had a lot of success there, so
we called it. That's gonna be W one or W number two on the
season. And then Sunday the fourteenth is the Autotradero Echo Park Automotive four hundred
at Texas Motor Speedway. Christopher bell Man, cool dude. We can't thank
you enough for jumping on with us. Wish are the best of luck and
we will see you right here in DFW in just a couple of weeks.
Sounds good. We'll see you guys at Texas Motor Speedway. Yes, sir,
there he goes Christopher Bell all in ass and tickets available at Texasmotorspeedway dot
com. Cool guy, right, very I enjoyed having him on the radio
with us. Yeah, that's a that's a hot beef with this with the
Kyle Busch situation. He he did downplay it, and I could tell you
he was kind of done talking about it after question two. We've just received
a text from Jeff skin Wade. What the hell does he want? All
of this for the Devaul reference? Yeah, all of this and you could
tell this fool so Telegraph he was gonna do the ice cream line. I'll
try to blow Christopher Bell away. I've never seen it. I don't know
who you're talking about. I don't watch TV. A movie car driver.
You've never seen a thunder and it's hard to get out of that once you
set it up on a tea like that, you know, eating ish cream
all he wanted to do eating crew, you know. Doing research, I
found an old interview with someone asked him who would be his motor home driver
and his crew chief, and they gave him the option of Lebron James or
Taylor Swift, and he said Taylor would be the motor home driver. So
I was like, okay, well, who's the spotter? Like that was
something I thought that was a fair question. I thought he would just rifle
off Tom Hanks or whatever big name he thought of, and he he struggled,
and then yeah, he saved your awkwardness about Days of Thunder by saying
he'd take Toby Keith to be his spotder. So you're right, he knocks
you off the front page of the Awkward Times. Oh no, I feel
bad for what I did do. Listen, just screwed this up. But
tomorrow you'll get a chance to make it all right when we have Chase Elliott
on the on the show my guy. That happening for sure. Yes,
yeah, back to him. I picked him in the Daytona. Yes,
we're looting up on NASCAR this week. Great, uh Chase Elliott eight.
And of course you can hear all the NASCAR races on our sister station.
Hear me ask the same questions I asked today. I thought you had a
great question with the emotions. He didn't get into it that much, but
you're right, the emotions that you have to manage in the car when you're
mad, you're happy or angry. I thought that was actually really interesting because
we all feel that on the stupid roads that we drive on, but we're
not any type of pressure like those guys in the car right in front of
you didn't wreck you last week and you have to go. But it's a
good answer to say, there's so much that goes into this, millions of
dollars and hundreds of people and the you know that are all watching, so
you can't just be a salty ass and and and knock him out. But
I thought that was actually a really good question. I thought, Danny,
you got a B plus for that. Thank you. I feel like I
did very well. I'm going to take an A minus. And Kevin Turner
also participated. It's I got the In terms of memorable moments, it's eight
fifty seven here on the downbeat on ninety seven, won the freak. What's
coming up next? If you're a Danny Bayless fan, I would say buckle
up for the next twenty five to thirty minutes, because not only are you
getting a zero res live spot, it's the return of the monthly segment Billboard. Bayless