Overview
- Bell was sent hard into the outside SAFER barrier after contact with Chase Elliott on Lap 148 of the FireKeepers Casino 400 on Sunday, a crash that halted the race for barrier repairs and briefly set the car on fire.
- Joe Gibbs Racing confirmed X-rays after the incident showed a fractured left wrist and announced that Bell has been medically cleared to start this weekend’s race at Pocono Raceway.
- NASCAR said the crash produced the highest Delta-v recorded in the Next Gen era and the most severe impact measured under its crash-data methodology, with Delta-v explained as the change in speed a car undergoes during a collision.
- JGR transported the destroyed No. 20 car to its Huntersville shop and NASCAR engineers have inspected the chassis, seat mounts and head-surround foam as part of a coordinated safety review to see what lessons the extreme impact offers.
- The DNF at Michigan dropped Bell to 10th in the standings but his cleared start preserves his streak of Cup starts and avoids the competitive cost that a missed race would carry under this season’s points-driven Chase format.