Bell ready to race Pocono despite wrist injury: ‘The car did absolutely perfect’

LONG POND, Pa. -- The slick, black cast on Christopher Bell's left wrist is the only visible sign he carries after last weekend's massive impact in a crash at Michigan International Speedway. Six days removed from the hardest-recorded crash in the Next Gen era, Bell was all smiles in his Saturday morning media availability at Pocono Raceway, where he will race Sunday despite fracturing his left wrist in the Lap 148 incident. MORE: NASCAR official details Bell crash | Updated Pocono schedule Bell crushed the SAFER barrier between Turns 3 and 4 at Michigan last weekend in a hit he says registered 63 Gs after Chase Elliott lost control of his No. 9 Chevrolet to Bell's left. The crash deformed the steel barriers as intended, helping to absorb the energy away from Bell in the cockpit, while his vehicle withstood the tremendous force. Bell exited the vehicle under his own power with pain in his wrist and foot, but without a head injury. "It was a big one, but I'm just so, so incredibly fortunate and thankful and blessed that my head was OK," Bell said. "To get out of there with just a fractured wrist is pretty immaculate. 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 specifically pointed to the foam that surrounds his helmet when he is behind the wheel as a key protector after last week's impact, as well as in the crush zones of the Next Gen chassis. "The car did absolutely perfect, and all of my safety gear did absolutely perfect, and that's why I'm back in the car this week," Bell said. "I think John Patalak (Vice President, Safety Engineering at NASCAR) is the guy who has really scienced out the head-foam surround and stuff like that, and I was really, really grateful Sunday whenever I hit the wall that all of that R&D, all of that effort had gone into making sure that I had the perfect containment system, and it worked. Everything worked perfectly." Bell said his fracture is expected to take roughly six weeks to heal, but added he did not need surgery because he didn’t displace any bones. The 31-year-old anticipates being comfortable enough to compete at Pocono, but questions linger for his longevity at road courses with Naval Base Coronado on June 21 and Sonoma Raceway on June 28 ahead. MORE: Bell cleared for Pocono “Obviously, I'll be wanting to get out of the cast as quickly as I can, and I think my group of doctors are all along the same lines to make sure that I'm healed up as much as possible, but obviously, as quick as possible as well,” Bell said. “So right now, I'm pretty much driving the car one-handed. I can kind of hold the wheel a little bit, and I think enough to shift. Shifting on the straightaways here at Pocono, I think it's going to be doable. The road courses, specifically San Diego, like 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 insists he has no intentions of stepping out of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, Prime Video, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). But if he does need to step out of the vehicle, NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series veteran Brandon Jones is on standby for Bell. "He came and sat through all of our sim sessions this week to make sure that he was up to speed," Bell said of Jones. "He did a great job driving the simulator as well. So yeah, 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." The incident itself was extreme and sudden, but Bell recalls every detail – from Elliott losing stability on corner entry to staring down the “MICHIGAN USA” wall art before bending the steel it was painted upon. His earpiece came out upon impact and did not hear spotter Tab Boyd asking if Bell was OK. He also saw fire from his car upon coming to a stop, expediting his exit. [caption id="attachment_514590" align="aligncenter" width="1300"]Rachel Horton | NASCAR Digital Media[/caption] “I just was trying to get out as quick as I could, but yeah, I knew my wrist was broke right away because I couldn't disconnect my shirt,” he said. “So 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. And then my foot hurt really, really bad too, but we got X-rays on my foot; it just ended up being bruised. “So yeah, beside my foot and my wrist, I was good to go. And I knew right away, or I thought I knew right away, that my head was OK because I didn't have any sort of headache, didn't black out. I remembered everything, and obviously in the infield care center they did tests on me, so just super, super blessed that I didn't hit my noggin.” The NASCAR community at large quickly connected with Bell and expressed well wishes, an outpouring of support that took the driver by pleasant surprise. “It’s been incredible the amount of people that have reached out to me this past week,” he said. “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 previous drivers and competitors that I raced against on the dirt side that have reached out to me. It’s been surreal to see that.” Part of that contingent – from the moments in the immediate aftermath to midweek check-ins – has been Chase Elliott, who still takes ownership of causing the incident. The care Elliott showed for Bell has been mutually appreciated. “I can't say how I can't speak highly enough of Chase, as well,” Bell said. "Like, 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 OK. And I obviously asked him if he was OK too; he had a big hit as well. But just thankful for all of the love from everybody, you know, everyone in the community, everyone outside of the community. My phone has been the busiest this week it's been in my entire life.” Elliott shared he has always gotten along well with Bell, and he carried the weight of the incident in the days since. “I felt really bad about that, and I just knew in the moment it was massive,” Elliott said. “I watched it happen and was just really concerned about him, and like I said, I couldn't see him when I got stopped. But when I got stopped, I was very relieved to see him out of the car and standing there immediately following us getting stopped.” Bell participated in practice and qualifying Saturday without issue and will start 22nd for Sunday's race.