On the dirt side, it starts with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports in the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget Series and the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League and moves forward from there. On the blacktop, the process begins with either TRD support to targeted drivers or a dedicated place within the late model program at Kyle Busch Motorsports, which has become the premier landing point for drivers looking to advance into NASCAR.

Bell has been the ultimate success story of the program in recent years. Often regarded to be as good as or even better than Larson, Bell won the USAC National Midget Series  title in 2013 and proceeded to barnstorm his way into the national spotlight.

Bell moved from the dirt side of TRD’s development ladder to the asphalt side the next year, racing super late models for KBM in preparation for a part-time jump into the Truck Series, which he punctuated in 2015 by winning on the dirt at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway while also scoring wins in late models.

The Norman, Okla., native went on to run full time in the Truck Series in 2016 and ’17, claiming the series championship after a five-win season last year. He also won his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race that fall for Joe Gibbs Racing before his move into NASCAR’s second-highest series this season.

As of Oct. 19, Bell had earned six Xfinity Series victories in the No. 20 Toyota, setting a series record for wins by a rookie driver that was held jointly by Greg Biffle, his mentor and former Truck Series team owner Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.

He credits his success to being picked up and guided forward by Toyota’s ladder system, particularly Irving.

“Old ‘Daddy Jack’ (Irving), he’s the guy who got me started for sure,” said Bell. “What’s really interesting is that I didn’t really meet Jack until a while later — all of my connections were with David Wilson and Tyler Gibbs … and I got introduced to Jack a little later. Jack got put in charge of the driver-development deal and he’s the one that has given me or has always been my contact at Toyota.

“I call him ‘Daddy Jack’ because he’s been nothing but a father figure to me. It’s really cool to have someone that believes in you as much as he does and what he’s done for the development system here at Toyota is really something special.”

Not only has Toyota helped drivers grow and advance, the company has pushed Keith Kunz Motorsports to a new level.

“Our team wouldn’t be where it is without Toyota and TRD,” noted Kunz. “It did all start back there with Kyle (Larson). We took a chance, happened to see him one day racing and I kind of recognized how good he was. We were at the Chili Bowl the following year … and he was driving for somebody else and I told my partner Pete (Willoughby) to go watch this kid. He went out in hot laps and Pete went up and watched him, came back and said that’s our guy. It was just that quick.

“TRD was just kind of helping with motors and really didn’t have a development program,” Kunz continued. “Well then, everybody knows the story of Kyle Larson and as he moved on, kind of the same thing happened with Christopher (Bell). We saw him one night. We grabbed on to him and this ladder system has just grown.

“I don’t know what it is; in certain kids you see something that just reaches out and grabs you. That’s what we’ve tried to look for.”

As Bell and his peers have begun to move up the ladder, the tightening of the funnel has become more evident, with a limited number of Toyota seats available the higher up in racing one goes.

Wilson knows that and understands he and his group won’t be able to hold on to every driver they bring into the fold, but he recognizes that even still, they are doing their part to grow the sport in that regard.

“The tough part about it is we’ll lose as many of these young kids as we’ll be able to keep just because you know the higher you climb the ladder, the fewer seats are available,” Wilson pointed out. “That’s what keeps me up at night, frankly, but the fact is that the sport will still benefit from the pipeline and if we can’t find seats for everybody, then hopefully guys like Rick (Hendrick) and Roger (Penske) and Richard (Childress) and the other tremendous team owners in this sport will have the opportunity to benefit.”

Even as he’s continued moving up through the ranks, Bell has remained steadfast in his belief of how important the Toyota development ladder is to the sport as a whole.

“What’s really cool is that – especially on the dirt side between (Kyle) Larson and myself and now Logan Seavey – you get all of these kids that are in the lower forms of motorsports and for a while, it kind of seemed hopeless to get to NASCAR. Now that avenue is open and everyone sees it. Every kid talks about Toyota. That’s where they want to be. They want to be part of the Toyota driver development program.

“It’s really special to see that and to see how everybody wants to be there. That seems to be the clearest way to get up to our level (in NASCAR) right now and Toyota is really doing a great job of that.”