Dirty Air: Keeping It Clean

Over the 78 years of its existence, NASCAR has had its fair share of polarizing villains. But for every Dale Earnhardt that always seemed to be at the heart of controversial moments, there are also the Mark Martins — the nice guys that don’t get talked about half as much, but command respect in the garage because of the respect they show their fellow competitors both on and off the track.

Mark was, and still is, admired for how cleanly he would race — always hesitant to be too aggressive and too passive to use the bumper to move the man in front of him out of the way. Having grown up a Mark Martin fan, I always point to the 2007 Daytona 500 as the biggest example of just how “nice” he was. With chaos ensuing behind them as they raced to the checkered flag, Kevin Harvick edged him by 0.02 seconds to win the Harley J Earl Trophy — denying Mark his best chance at ever winning the Great American Race.

The what-if surrounding that moment is obvious. “What if Mark had bumped or side drafted Kevin coming off turn four?” Could we be talking about a totally different outcome? Maybe not. After all, Mark says he let off because he thought NASCAR was going to throw a caution with the big wreck happening behind them. But, that is probably not the only time Martin’s friendly nature cost him a big win. It is also one of those things that, like how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.

In the modern era of NASCAR, it is difficult to find a driver comparable to Mark Martin when it comes to respect for his fellow competitor on and off the track. The world is full of Carson Hocevars, Denny Hamlins, and — God rest his soul, Kyle Busch’s. The type of guys that when the race is on the line, would put their own mama in the wall. Heck, for Hocevar, he might punt his grandma for 23rd. But, I have one driver for you to consider the comparison for — Christopher Bell.

After notching his whopping 7th second place finish of the 2026 season at Iowa Speedway, drawing comparisons to Sheldon Creed in the then-Xfinity Series, who notched 15 runner-up finishes before finally earning his first win. Obviously, Bell has long broken into the win column in his Cup Series career with 13 victories. He has also frequently been a championship contender. So, it would be asinine to assert that Bell has a pressing issue that will break his career. But, he does have a problem in 2026, where so far he is on a winless streak that is pushing the level of incredulity of the current 48-race skid Kyle Larson is on.

“C Bell” has not won since the Bristol Night Race nearly a year ago — almost a full schedule’s worth (35. The season is 36). Unlike Larson, who has just either been his own worst enemy or fallen victim to the rotten luck Hendrick Motorsports has had, particularly over the last month, Bell has been close to victory lane.

Looking back over the season, he has come home runner-up at Phoenix back in March, the Coca-Cola 600, Nashville, Chicagoland, Atlanta, Indianapolis, and now Iowa. Each time, the circumstances were different. For example, in Charlotte, Daniel Suárez won a rain-shortened race on pit strategy and a little bit of luck to be able to hold off Bell through multiple restarts and rain delays. At Chicagoland, Christopher was a lap away from running down his team mate Chase Briscoe and challenging him for the lead — though dirty air may have eventually prevented a pass. That darn pesky dirty air was the reason he could not begin to run down Corey Heim in the Brickyard 400. Last, but not least, this past week at Iowa, several factors made the difference between his JGR team mate Ty Gibbs celebrating his second win of the season and Bell hoisting his first trophy of 2026.

What are those factors? Let’s start with the obvious one — the car. NASCAR’s problematic 7th generation race car body (AKA the “NextGen”) stinks. It creates great mechanical grip at the expense of making the dirty air problem that it was designed with intent to fix much worse. The leader cannot be passed more often than not and when he can, lapped traffic holds everybody up — including the one out front. In essence, Gibbs was able to ‘aero block’ Bell by taking the preferred line at the bottom of the track and dumping a bunch of turbulent (“dirty”) air onto him. That made any attempt at a move — even when Bell was able to catch up to Ty’s bumper, practically impossible.

Besides the car and its aerodynamic issues, the track itself played a part. Iowa Speedway recently re-paved the bottom line, which made it to where unlike the last two Cup races held there with multiple lines the drivers felt comfortable running, the bottom became the quickest way around (the preferred line). Had the luxury of having all three lanes with the same aged asphalt been there for Bell, perhaps he could have changed his line and tried to pass Gibbs on the outside.

But perhaps the biggest thing that went against Bell last Sunday is something not many people are talking about: he is just not aggressive enough. There were three or four instances in the closing laps of the Iowa Corn 350 where Christopher was able to get to the back bumper of Ty Gibbs. Twice, Bell upset his rear tires and had to back off and cool them back down. But the other two times, he seemed to hold back.

Here is what Bell did well — he did run hard. He ran hard enough to keep pressure on Ty Gibbs. The relentless pursuit put Gibbs into a situation where he had to be perfect and hit his marks just right. To Ty’s credit, he did run a flawless race down the stretch. He certainly earned the win. But, part of me truly believes that things would have gone much differently if the shoe were on the other foot.

Had Ty Gibbs been the one chasing down Christopher Bell for the win, Gibbs would not have hesitated to try and move him out of the way. Team mate or not, a win is on the line. A lot of drivers would not have been so kind as to sit back and wait for their team mate in the lead to make a mistake. Denny Hamlin would have used his trademark move — run your opponent up the track and make them let off. Carson Hocevar would boot his dog for 23rd place in stage one, much less for a win. Earnhardt would rattle Terry Labonte’s cage.

Bell did not, and frankly would not. It has never been in his blood to be aggressive — especially to a teammate. No doubt the fact he was racing a teammate that also happens to be the boss’ grandson could have also played a part. But, regardless, Christopher Bell has never been one for putting the bumper to another driver. He has always raced clean — just like Mark Martin had a reputation for.

There is nothing wrong with that. Christopher Bell, like Martin, is a likeable guy because he races clean. As a matter of fact, none of this is to say that Bell’s friendliness is what is keeping him out of Victory Lane this season any more than it is to say anything particularly negative about Mark Martin’s career/accolades. But, there is one thing Martin and Bell have in common besides their on-track demeanor: both lack a championship.

Mark Martin will always be remembered as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history that never won a title. But as harsh as it is to say, without a Winston Cup, there is room to debate that Mark’s career was just great rather than legendary. You may think that is an insane take, and I would not blame you for thinking that. But, there is a degree of truth to it.

One thing differentiates the good/great drivers from the legends — championships. The hall of famers that made the progression from good to great to legendary all did so by pushing the envelope; by being aggressive when they had to be, even if that meant turning on a teammate — a word that does not exist when the race or a championship are on the line.

Christopher Bell had a chance to push the envelope at Iowa, and he held back. While that is admirable, it goes without saying he will never be one of the greats until he embraces being aggressive. I am not suggesting that he needs to wreck people or “rattle cages” to be great. Just that he cannot be scared to try and move someone out of the way. There are ways to move other drivers cleanly, and in this day and age where passing is hard enough, you almost have to. You are not just going to blow around the guy in front of you on pure speed alone.

Christopher Bell may be standing at a crossroads in his career, and he needs to make a choice. Does he want to be one of the legends or is he ok with just being remembered as good or great? Is he content to keep saying “That was a good/bad second place finish” or does he want to be a champion? Because ultimately, being content with second place is not the mentality of a champion or a legend.