Norman native Christopher Bell seeks four wins in a row: chasing NASCAR history

With the NASCAR Cup Series field as deep and talented as it has ever been, it's becoming very difficult to put together even the most minor of winning streaks at stock car racing's highest level -- let alone to have the opportunity Christopher Bell has before him.

A Norman, Oklahoma, native and one of NASCAR's budding superstars, Christopher Bell became the first Cup Series driver to earn back-to-back wins since 2023 when he won Atlanta and Circuit of the Americas. He took another checkered flag by winning a photo finish at Phoenix on Sunday, becoming the first driver to win three straight races since 2021 and the first to do so since NASCAR's Next Gen car was introduced in 2022. With three wins in four races to start the year, Bell has quickly emerged as the early season favorite for the Cup championship -- and now, he has the rare chance to achieve even more history.

Related: Oklahoma native Christopher Bell gets first NASCAR win of 2025 at Atlanta

This weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bell is in position to win fourth straight Cup Series race, a modern record for the sport. Since 1972, NASCAR has only seen that feat accomplished eight times, with five of those instances resulting in that driver becoming Cup champion that year.

1. 1976 -- As the season entered its closing stages following Labor Day, Cale Yarborough would rattle off four wins in a row at Richmond, Dover, Martinsville and North Wilkesboro. The streak made a huge difference in the season, as Yarborough would go on to win his first of a then-record three consecutive Cup championships.
2. 1981 -- With six races to go in the season, Darrell Waltrip took control of the championship fight by winning four in a row at Martinsville, North Wilkesboro, Charlotte and Rockingham. The streak propelled Waltrip to the first of three Cup championships he would win over the next five years.
3. 1987 -- After opening the year with back-to-back wins at Rockingham and Richmond, Dale Earnhardt won four in a row at Darlington, North Wilkesboro, Bristol and Rockingham to give himself six wins in the first eight races of 1987. He would go on to win a career-high 11 times that year en route to his second consecutive Cup title.
4. 1991 -- At 51, Harry Gant nearly swept the month of September by winning the Southern 500 at Darlington, then following it up with wins at Richmond, Dover and Martinsville. The four-win streak would become the crowning achievement of Gant's career, as he would come to be known as "Mr. September" from that point onwards.
5. 1992 -- After getting crashed while racing for the lead in the Daytona 500, Bill Elliott would recover to earn four consecutive wins at Rockingham, Richmond, Atlanta and Darlington. Elliott's streak is the most analogous to Bell's, as Bell can join Elliott in winning the first four races following the Daytona 500.
6. 1993 -- Mark Martin closed the summer months out in style, winning four-straight at Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol and the Southern 500.
7. 1998 -- Jeff Gordon's dominant season included a four-race win streak over the summer. Gordon's win streak included Pocono, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, Watkins Glen and Michigan. It was just one small part of a 13-win season that ended with Gordon handily winning his third Cup championship in four years.
8. 2007 -- In the Chase for the Cup championship, Jimmie Johnson went on a remarkable run in the final five races that saw him win four consecutive races at Martinsville, Atlanta, Texas and Phoenix. The win streak was the deciding factor in that year's championship, as it lifted Johnson over Jeff Gordon -- despite Gordon's dominance all season -- to give Johnson the second of what would turn into a record five-straight Cup titles.

It's been 18 years since Johnson's streak, and you have to go back even further to find a longer winning streak. No one has won five races in a row since Richard Petty did it in 1971, and Petty also owns the all-time record for consecutive wins with 10 in 1967, a record likely frozen in time, as it took place when Cup seasons included less competition and more races, with some on small tracks with shorter distances.

Four wins in a row is a major accomplishment for any driver of any era, but it truly would be something special for a driver to do it in this era. "This sport has become so incredibly tough with the parity that we have," Bell told reporters at Phoenix Raceway. "The teams are so tight, the cars are really tight, the drivers are tight. Everybody performs at a high level and there are 10, 15 guys that could win on any given week. ... The field is littered with really talented crew chiefs, drivers, teams. It's hard to do, and I acknowledge that. I'm just kind of in disbelief that I have that opportunity, but I'm looking forward to it."

What works in Bell's favor is that he will get his chance at four in a row at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a track where he has performed exceptionally well: He has three top five finishes in his last four starts there, a stretch which includes two runner-up finishes and 216 laps led. The last time NASCAR raced at Las Vegas last fall, Bell led 155 of 267 laps and had the dominant car of the day, with only Joey Logano's successful fuel mileage strategy separating him from Victory Lane.

Bell's chance at history comes at the start of his sixth full-time season in Cup, in which he has gradually risen to prominence as the driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Bell has 12 career victories and has finished in the top five of the championship standings each of the last three years, with two consecutive Championship 4 appearances in 2022 and 2023.

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