SONOMA, Calif. — Christopher Bell said Saturday that he plans to run the full distance of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Recovering from a fractured wrist from a Michigan International Speedway crash three weeks ago, Bell hopped out of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota following the first caution of last weekend’s inaugural race at Naval Base Coronado. O’Reilly Auto Parts Series rookie Brent Crews subbed in for Bell, but exited prematurely after the No. 20 suffered a mechanical failure.
However, Bell said that he felt good enough to run last week but accepted JGR’s terms to pull him mid-race in Southern California.
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“Last week, after driving the car, I felt really, really good in the car through practice, and then even in the start of the race, I felt really well,” Bell told reporters Saturday. “I wanted to race, but the team around me felt pretty committed just going down the avenue of risk management at San Diego, with the tight confines of the concrete walls around you all the way around. So yeah, opted to sit out that one, and I feel I’m not getting out of this one.”
Bell credited Crews for the effort in San Diego, but the Oklahoma native is determined to man his No. 20 Toyota for all 110 laps in Wine Country, especially sitting in a precarious points situation at just 60 points above the Chase cutline.
“Certainly that’s a big part of it, but it all goes hand in hand,” Bell said. “We need to do good, period. No matter what. Brent did a great job last week for us. Obviously, he made a mistake, but I don’t even blame him for that. I’ve done it a million times throughout my career, so just part of it.”
Crews will remain on standby in case Bell needs to exit the No. 20 prematurely on Sunday.
It’s not pain that’s limiting Bell from maximizing performance; it’s adapting to wheeling his hot rod with a cast on his left arm. As the weeks go by, he hopes to put the injury in the past and turn full focus to qualifying for The Chase and returning to Victory Lane.
“By the time we got to San Diego, I didn’t have any pain at all driving the car,” Bell explained. “I feel very clunky and very unorthodox with the cast on my arm and not being able to just move the wheel as quickly and as sharply as I am accustomed to, but I don’t really have any pain. I felt really comfortable in the car last week at San Diego. Through our simulator sessions here at Sonoma, been the same thing. I don’t think I can drive as well as I can without a cast, but it doesn’t hurt me to drive, so that’s really good.
“I think the natural transition will be to go from a cast to some sort of brace. It’ll be a little bit before I have freedom again, but hopefully the days of the cast are dwindling down, which I’m excited about.”