Christopher Bell Absolutely Livid on Radio at Vegas After Dominating Performance

Christopher Bell was dominant over the weekend in Las Vegas. It started on Saturday when he won the pole in qualifying. Starting from that first position on Sunday, the No. 20 car got the jump on the green flag and never looked back.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver led the first 36 laps before relinquishing the lead for the first green-flag pit cycle. He finished second in the first stage. He then finished first in second stage. He led 155 total laps. Unfortunately for the 29-year-old driver, he didn't lead the most important one.

The JGR pilot finished second behind Joey Logano and the No. 22 team's fuel strategy call, which resulted in the two-time Cup Series champion leading only the final six laps and taking the checkered flag by a 0.662-second margin.

Moments after crossing the finish line, the typically calm, soft-spoken driver didn't attempt to hide his anger when pushing the talk button on his steering wheel.

"You've got to be f****** kidding me!" Bell screamed over the radio .

"Good job, buddy," his spotter said.

"That sucks, buddy," crew chief Adam Stevens added. "That sucks real bad, but it wasn't meant to be. We did all we could do."

While Bell was understandably frustrated for coming up one spot short at Vegas, he had already sent a clear message to his playoff competitors through the first seven races. In that span, he recorded an impressive four top 5s and two others inside the top 10. His worst finish was a 14th at Watkins Glen.

All of that high-level consistency in a postseason where many of the top contenders have repeatedly stumbled and often the result of self-inflicted mistakes. Sunday in Sin City produced multiple examples with Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin both suffering costly pit road blunders.

For Bell, his No. 20 crew has avoided those errors this offseason. That happened again this weekend. His entire team performed near flawlessly, and still finished a painful second. The pain and anger evident over his team radio.

Bell looks to improve by one spot in the second playoff race in the Round of 8 on Oct. 27 at Homestead-Miami. The race coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

Related: Joey Logano Shares Heartbreaking Story of Incredible Personal Loss