Christopher Bell broke his left wrist at Michigan. NASCAR confirmed it as the hardest impact a Next Gen car has ever recorded, the biggest hit the sport has seen in a decade. Chase Elliott lost control of his No. 9 car and collected Bell on the way into the wall. The data backs up what every fan already felt watching it live. This was bad.
The crash happened on lap 148 in Turn 4. Elliotts car snapped loose and came up the track right into Bells path, and there was nothing Bell could do about it. Replays from every angle showed the same thing. A driver doing everything right, getting collected by a car he never saw coming.
Bell got out of the car on his own. That mattered to a lot of people watching, including Bubba Wallace, who was right behind the wreck and got on the radio asking if Bell was okay. Wallace later called it the scariest hit he has ever seen, and he has seen plenty.
The diagnosis came back a few days later. Fractured left wrist. Joe Gibbs also said Bell is dealing with an ankle injury from the same crash. NASCAR cleared him to race anyway, and Bell is set to climb into the No. 20 Toyota this Sunday at Pocono.
Pocono does not do anyone any favors. It is a 2.5 mile triangle with three corners that all behave differently, rough pavement, and long straights that beat up a drivers hands, wrists, and forearms over 160 laps. It is one of the more physically demanding tracks on the schedule even when a driver is fully healthy. Bell is walking into that with a broken wrist taped up and a fresh memory of the hardest hit of his career.
Fans are split on this one, and that is putting it mildly. Some see a driver gutting it out because that is what racers do, and they respect it. Others think NASCAR clearing him to race this fast, this soon, after a crash that bad sends the wrong message about how seriously the sport takes driver safety. Both sides have a point, and neither one is going away by Sunday afternoon.
What is not up for debate is what is at stake. Bell sits inside the top 10 in points and squarely in the playoff picture. Every point matters this time of year. A driver racing hurt at one of the toughest tracks on the calendar, with a result that could swing his season, is exactly the kind of storyline that makes Sunday must watch.
If you are riding with the No. 20 this weekend, here is gear worth grabbing before the green flag drops:
Win shirts from a drivers best moments this season are a way to show you were riding with him before this weekend, not just after.
So, where do you land. Is Bell tough for getting back in the car, or should NASCAR have held him out a week. Drop your take in the comments. We will be watching Sunday right alongside you.
