HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. Were just four races into the NASCAR Cup Series season and Christopher Bell has already proven to be outrageously dependable.

The driver of the No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing has won the last three Cup Series races, becoming the first driver to three-peat since Kyle Larson pulled the hat trick in 2021. More importantly, its put Bell in the enviable position of locking up his spot in the 16-driver playoff field five months and 22 races before NASCARs version of the post-season starts Aug. 31 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Logging wins so early in the year allows Bell and his Interstate Batteries team to use the regular season to their benefit. With a playoff berth firmly in their pocket, Bell and crew chief Adam Stevens can be as aggressive as they want to chase even more wins and bolster their playoff points standing.

With us having multiple wins and knowing that were in the playoffs, if theres a little bit more risky of a move, yeah, it certainly opens up the strategy book, said Bell, whose three wins this year ties his career-high victory tallies in 2022 and 2024. You dont really know how its going to play out until you get into the race, but certainly the positions where its a little bit more high-risk where you normally wouldnt take that risk if youre focused on the regular-season points, well, now we can.

After getting collected in a multi-car crash five laps short of the finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, Bell has been on a tear, scoring back-to-back-to-back wins Feb. 23 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, March 2 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, and last Sunday at Phoenix Raceway.

No driver has a better average finish this season than Bell. His average of 8.5 is a half a position better than Daytona 500 winner William Byron (9.0), and two-and-a-half positions better than third-best Tyler Reddick (11.0). Its an impressive stat in and of itself, but even more so when you consider Bells 31st-place result in the Daytona 500.

As Ive gotten more established in the series and as our team has gotten better and better, we expect to be in the playoffs and we expect to win, and now were expecting to win multiple races, said Bell, now in his sixth Cup season with 12 career victories. So at Vegas, were expecting to compete for the win and, hopefully, we can continue to rack em up.

The 30-year-old racer from Norman, Oklahoma, is more than meeting expectations. After competing at two superspeedways in Daytona and Atlanta, a road course at COTA, and a flat, mile-long oval in Phoenix, Bell is ready for the series bellwether track Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Right now, weve got everything we need to contend for a championship and win a lot of races, Bell said. Weve got a great crew chief, great mechanics, great engineers, great pit crew and, hopefully, a great driver. We need to make the most of it.

The 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval is the first of seven intermediate-style tracks on the Cup Series schedule. Intermediates serve as the bread-and-butter of the calendar, where ovals from 1.3 miles to 2 miles comprise 25 percent of the races. Las Vegas and Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, a sister 1.5-mile oval, host two races apiece, with each of their second races coming in the 10-race playoffs.

Vegas is a true barometer of the intermediates, Bell said. Its kind of like the last style of track that we havent been to yet this season. Its an important race because you have a lot of points to be gained or lost on the intermediate-style tracks. But what makes Vegas even more important is that its in the Round of 8 (of the playoffs).

That race, when you come back in the fall, is super important to have a really solid points day and contend for a win. That fall Vegas race is everything, and theres no better tune up for it than the spring Vegas race.

Las Vegas has been a strong track for Bell. In 10 career Cup Series starts there, he has earned five top-10 finishes, and in two of his last three Vegas starts, Bell has finished second. In fact, in his most recent race at Las Vegas last October, Bell scored the pole, led four times for a race-high 155 laps, and then finished runner-up to eventual series champion Joey Logano.

Vegas is probably my best track on the schedule that I havent won at, Bell said. Between the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series, Ive led a ton of laps there. Even in the Cup Series Ive led a lot of laps there, yet still havent won. So were looking for that first Vegas win, and my first with Interstate Batteries as my primary partner.

Theyve been with Joe Gibbs Racing since the beginning, and theres a lot of pride that comes with carrying their colors. Some great names have won in Interstate Batteries green, and Id like to add my name to the list. Vegas is a really good racetrack for me, and I know it could come at any time.