23XI star Christopher Bell suffered a broken wrist after his massive wreck at Michigan last week. Bell was cleared to race at Pocono and did so with modifications to the car and a cast on his left wrist. He spoke with the media after the race and dropped an update on his injury and how it impacted him as he finished P26 during the race on Sunday.
Christopher Bell detailed how he was able to run comfortably in single file, but battling side by side, and the restarts were tricky for him to manage with a cast. Motorsport reporter Bob Pockrass uploaded a video in which Bell shared a wrist injury update, as he said,
“My wrist is fine when I’m by myself. But certainly, like any sort of adverse conditions like when we banged with the No.21 or whatever getting into three or that wreck in front of me, I just don’t really have the ability to make sharp quick corrections to the car. So, you know whenever I’m by myself and we got single filed out, I feel like it didn’t bother me but I certainly think it affects my restarts.”
Joe Gibbs Racing made changes to the No.20 Toyota, shaving off the left side of the steering wheel to accommodate the cast, as well as moving around a few buttons from the left to the right of the steering wheel.
Christopher Bell started outside the Top 20, in P22. With around 50 laps left, as Casey Mears lost a tire and brought out the caution, Bell was one of the few drivers to pit. The team made the call to run to the end and got into the lead of the race once others made their final stop under the green flag. The No.20 Toyota ran out of fuel with one lap to go, and Bell had to limp the car back to the pits.
Christopher Bell isn’t sure whether he’ll be able to race at Coronado
Christopher Bell had a specially moulded cast to race at Pocono. However, unlike Pocono, Coronado is going to be a street race which requires a lot more steering wheel effort. The Prime Video broadcast during the race also revealed how the current cast limited Bell’s movement to turn right.
While Bell didn’t need surgery for his fracture after the crash at Pocono, the cast is expected to stay for a month. If the No.20 Toyota driver wants to race at Coronado and Sonoma, he’ll require a new cast. When questioned if he had any sense of whether he’ll be able to race next week, Bell said,
“No, not yet. I mean I don’t have any pain which is really good. So yeah, we’ll see how the week progresses.”
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Motorsport reporter Jeff Gluck shared an image after the race where his team member Wesley Lape was seen removing Bell’s glove. The driver couldn’t remove it because of the cast on his wrist.
