LOUDON, N.H. – When Christopher Bell was signed by Joe Gibbs Racing to contest the full NASCAR Xfinity Series season this year, he knew there would be high expectations.

Through the first two thirds of the regular season, Bell has arguably met every expectation that could have been set, if not exceeded them thanks to his standout performances in the last two series races.

Bell has three victories this year, tied for the series lead with his long-time dirt rival and Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Kyle Larson, and sits just six points out of the regular season championship lead held by Daniel Hemric.

If that weren’t enough, in the last two weeks, Bell has gone toe to toe with both all-time series wins leader Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski and won at Kentucky Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a feat that few others can claim in recent years.

In fact, the last Xfinity Series regular to have three wins or more during the regular season was Bell’s predecessor in the No. 20 Toyota, Erik Jones – who won four times in 2016 before fading in the playoffs.

However, when the Norman, Okla., driver was asked about his recent success, he noted that performing at that kind of level isn’t just a desire within the JGR and Toyota families, it’s a requirement.

“Honestly, if you’d asked me at the start of the year if I’d have three wins by this point, I would have said that I’d better have three wins, you know?” Bell said following his win at Loudon on Saturday.

“Whenever you come here and you step in this equipment at Joe Gibbs Racing, you’re expected to win,” Bell added. “At that point, the pressure’s on for you to deliver … and thankfully I’ve been able to deliver at least some of the time.”

Bell’s performances this season have been both exemplary and come against the best that the Xfinity Series has to offer.

At Richmond Raceway in April, he beat his fellow rookie teammate Noah Gragson in a tooth-and-nail, back-and-forth battle under the lights. The last two weeks, Bell has topped two of the top-four in all-time series wins in Busch and Keselowski, who have a total of 130 Xfinity Series victories between them.

While that’s not something that intimidates Bell, he admitted that the late-race battle with Keselowski was something that stressed him out in the closing laps on Saturday.

“I don’t know if it’s fun (to race Keselowski), but it’s stressful, that’s for sure,” Bell said. “You know, on tires there … he didn’t have left sides and we had four, so that was a big advantage for me and I was able to get a really good launch on the restart. That was really the key on Saturday.

“I think he had a little bit better car than us, but pretty much all through practice we were really equal, not to mention that this place has been really good to me in the past,” added Bell, who won last year’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the 1.058-mile oval. “I’ve never been much for a flat track, let it roll, easy in, easy off-type of deal, but this place has been really good to me.”