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Motorsport

Matt Weaver

Christopher Bell grateful for NASCAR safety advances after Michigan crash

Christopher Bell NASCAR Chase Elliott Brandon Jones

More than anything else, Christopher Bell is just relieved that everything checked out good when it came to his head after his violent crash at Michigan International Speedway last weekend.

The fractured wrist and bruised ankle, as far as he is concerned as of Saturday morning, will be manageable this weekend. The 31-year-old has Brandon Jones as a backup driver, just in case, but genuinely expects to complete every lap on Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

If he can hold a steering wheel, which he proved he could this week at the Toyota Racing Development simulator, then he is capable of racing. Above all else, he is just grateful that the hardest NASCAR Cup Series crash in at least a decade only left him with manageable injuries that he can race through.

“I've been told that it was 63 Gs on impact, but I don't know what the Delta-v is and honestly, it doesn’t really matter to me,” Bell said during a press conference at Pocono. “It was a big one but I'm just so incredibly fortunate and thankful and blessed that my head was okay. To get out of there with just a fractured wrist is pretty immaculate.

“And I owe all of the credit to NASCAR and my team for building safe cars. I know I said it in my statement earlier, but all of the previous drivers who have paid somewhat of a price to make these cars as safe as they are today, NASCAR from learning from every experience that they've had and every moment, every crash, it all paid off last Sunday.”

Bell wouldn't disclose what his treatment consists but says his doctors have 'a good plan in place.' If for whatever reason Bell needs to climb out of the car, Joe Gibbs Racing veteran O'Reilly Series driver Brandon Jones spent time in the Toyota simulator just in case he is needed.

But really, it's the next two races after this one, on the San Diego Street Course and the Sonoma Raceway road course that's more daunting than Pocono and its long straights.

“I can kind of hold the wheel a little bit and I think enough to shift on the straightaways here at Pocono, I think is going to be doable,” Bell said. “The road courses specifically San Diego, there's a couple corners that you have to shift in. I think Turn 1 at Sonoma is going to be difficult. So yeah, I hope for more healing before we get to those tracks for sure.”

Bell said he’s expecting a six-week recovery process.

His fire suit has also been modified to fit his cast. Bell uses a Max Papis Industries steering wheel and the longtime F1, IndyCar and NASCAR driver has provided him a different wheel to compensate for his temporary range restrictions.

“We took a lot of material off of the left side of the wheel just to make it skinnier because I have so much material in my palm to help my hand get around the steering wheel,” Bell said. So yeah, I feel like we're as ready as we can get and we’ll see what happens.”

The incident happened on Lap 148 when Chase Elliott lost traction over a bump in Turn 3 and slid up into Bell while they were racing for second. The contact shot Bell into the wall, that impact resulting in a SAFER Barrier repair, but also a secondary shot when Elliott came back up the track into the left side of Bell’s car.

Bell said he remembers every second of the crash and immediately knew a bone was broken somewhere.

"As soon as I stopped and reached down to undo my shirt and unhook my shirt, I couldn't hit the button," Bell said. "And I had instant pain. I didn't have pain before I went to hit the button. And then whenever I went to hit the button, I'm like, 'oh man, something's wrong.'

"And then I got out of the car and I was looking at it, I'm like, 'Well, it still looks okay, so I guess it's okay.' But then, I couldn't get my chin strap undone, so I'm like, 'Okay, something's wrong.' I knew right away that it was broken.

"And then yeah, once I think I took some Advil or ibuprofen there in the infield care center and they put me in a splint, I haven't had much pain at all when I'm not moving it."

The injury occurred because his left hand was still on the bottom of the steering wheel when upon impact, which sent his wrist up into the wheel, which in Bell's words, 'slightly smashed it.'

But he has no ill-will towards Elliott, as they embraced after climbing out of their cars, and concluded it was a standard issue racing incident.

"I just thought it was racing," Bell said. "I mean, I don't even know that I would call it hard racing. It was just a racing accident. He got loose and yeah, we were side-by-side through the corner, but these cars don't really tend to lose a lot of sideforce whenever you're side-by-side compared to the old cars.

"So I didn't think he did anything egregious. I didn't think I did anything egregious. It was just a racing accident."

Mostly, Bell is just happy that he didn’t get a concussion and that his injuries weren’t worse. He’s thankful to NASCAR’s safety initiatives and everyone that has texted or called him over the past week.

“It’s been it's been incredible, the amount of people that have reached out to me,” Bell said. “This past week, my phone has literally been on fire and it's been eye-opening how much love I have received from everybody, all of my competitors throughout the NASCAR garage, all of my peers and coworkers throughout the NASCAR garage, friends and family members, even drivers and competitors that I raced against on the dirt side that have reached out to me. So, it has been surreal to see that.

“I can't speak highly enough of Chase as well. The moment that he saw me out of the car, he was visibly shaken up and concerned about me. I appreciate so much his, demeanor and his thoughts of me and he's reached out several times throughout the week to make sure I'm okay.

“Obviously, I asked him if he was okay too. He had a big hit as well, but just thankful for all of the love from everybody. Everyone in the community, everyone outside of the community, my phone has been the busiest this week, it’s been in my entire life.”