Christopher Bell, driver of the No. 20 Rheem Toyota Camry XSE, will take the green flag in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Pocono Raceway with a cast on his left wrist. But, all things considered, he’s taking the green flag, and that itself is a triumph.
The Norman, Oklahoma-native is only seven days removed from a hellacious accident at Michigan International Speedway, where his vehicle smashed into the SAFER Barrier in Turn 3 at a high rate of speed, resulting in a broken left wrist. The break itself, Bell says, was a product of holding onto the wheel and smashing it upon impact with the wall.
“I remember everything,” Bell said about the accident on Saturday. “I remember going into Turn 3 side-by-side. I saw Chase [Elliott] wiggle, then I thought that I was going to go around the outside of him, and then at the last moment I saw his car come right, and then, if I remember right, it kind of picked my nose up and shot me right.”
Bell says the impact was hard enough to knock the earpiece right out of his ear, and mentioned he likely gave his crew and wife, Morgan, a good scare, since he had no communication. However, the 13-time Cup Series winner knew something wasn’t right when he tried to get himself out of the car, which was on fire.
“I knew my wrist was broken right away, because I couldn’t disconnect my [cool shirt]. I reached down, tried to disconnect my shirt, and I couldn’t squeeze the button, so I had to use my right hand to do that. Then, my foot hurt really, really badly, too. We got X-rays of my foot. It ended up being bruised.”
Aside from the broken wrist and some pain in his foot, Bell says he really didn’t experience any other issues, and knew that his head was alright because he didn’t have any kind of headache in the days following the wreck and didn’t black out at any point.
Bell, after returning home from Michigan, visited his personal physician, who cleared him to compete in all normal racing-related activities. So, that’s exactly what Bell is going to do – at least, that’s what the plan is.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Brandon Jones is on standby for Bell should he need to jump out of his No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE at any point during Sunday’s 400-mile contest, but, as far as the 31-year-old is concerned, he’s keen to make it work.
“The plan is absolutely for me to complete all 400 miles, but we do have a backup plan in place for [Sunday] if I am not able to do it,” Bell said. “Brandon Jones, he came and sat through all of our sim sessions this week to make sure that he was up to speed. He did a great job driving the simulator, as well.”
“I think that it’s either going to be like I’m going to commit to the race and I’m going to do it, or I’m going to be out and just start and ride around until the first yellow. But, as of right now, I’m full commit planning on running 400 miles.”
In the true spirit of a race car driver, Bell didn’t ever think of stepping out of the car for this weekend’s event at Pocono, saying that even on Sunday when boarding the airplane – just hours after taking a 63G impact into a wall — he was thinking about how he’d be able to race as long as he could hold the steering wheel… and again, that’s exactly what he’ll do.
To make sure he’d be okay to race this weekend, as well as the back-to-back road course events coming up at Naval Base Coronado and Sonoma, Bell took to the simulator and ran a couple of hours on the new street course in San Diego, and says he managed, but did also mention on a couple of occasions that next week was going to be the real challenge.
But, to race, there were some modifications needed.
“The OrthoCarolina team did a really good job of making sure the cast is as molded to a steering wheel as I could get it,” Bell said. “So, I can grip the wheel as well as, or as good as, I can, and then Max Papis did a great job of helping me out with a steering wheel to accommodate me, the best that I can. We took a lot of material out of the left side of the wheel just to make it skinnier, because I have so much material in my palm to help get my hand around the steering wheel. I feel like we’re as ready as we can get and see what happens.”
Additionally, everything typically on the left side of his race car, like his drink bottle, his radios, and his helmet blower, all had to be moved to the right side of the car, so that he could use his right hand with it.
It’s going to be a challenge, without a question, considering Bell says he’s going to be “pretty much driving the car one-handed”, but crazier things have happened in NASCAR before. Remember 2011, when Brad Keselowski, sans an intact ankle, went to Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway after a testing crash at Road Atlanta.
Could history repeat itself today? Bell will start 22nd.
