Is Christopher Bell Out? (Update: Cleared to Race)

[00:00:00]This past Sunday at the Michigan International Speedway, Chase Elliott and Christopher Bell had a really hard wreck into the turns three and four wall. And in this wreck, Bell's car was demolished in a way we haven't really seen from an Xfinity car probably ever. And with it, Christopher Bell was in the infield care center for an extended amount of time and then was later released and refused all interviews. Now, a lot of people probably thought, "All right, well, he's just maybe shaken up a bit, but he should be fine. We saw him walk away." But then there was talk about his wrist and ankle possibly being injured.

[00:00:42]And now we've seen the repercussions of what happened. This from Christopher's father, David Bell, who put one month out, "Still so blessed considering."

[00:00:54]Maybe that's where Christopher gets spoiling announcements. I'd rather they be better announcements than this, but hey, maybe we can have a little levity with this thing here. But if this is true and if there's any other news, we'll interject into any part of the video to say it. Uh this is going to be both a big hit obviously for what he took on Sunday, but also to his season at large. See, earlier in the week, there was a picture that was put on social media and it was from Jordan Maccaby who had put this picture of Christopher Bell in a group walking to the team plane and you can see Christopher in the back with seemingly a cast on his left arm. And that was probably the first tell for a lot of people that maybe things were not as good as they had seemed before. Now, I do want people to remember that just because Christopher walked away and didn't seem too bad after the wreck itself does not mean he wasn't injured or does not mean that this is some kind of just oh, it's a small injury. He probably had a lot of adrenaline pumping through him in that moment. I imagine being a race car driver does that to you. We've seen it when people talk about and show their heartbeat graphs during a race and after a race and we probably would have a lot of adrenaline and emotion, too, if we had just been involved in a crash at 170 or 180 mph.

[00:02:30]So, I want to lay that part down to bed a little bit, too, on this. But, what this means moving forward, again, we'll probably find out more details into the afternoon if this ends up being true and it will probably mean that substitute drivers will be put in place.

[00:02:48]Now, we don't know whether or not he could heal better and maybe come back earlier or later. If he's out a month, it would have him coming back at Atlanta, which, if you're coming back from a hard wreck, starting back up at a super speedway probably isn't the best possible option.

[00:03:04]Uh look at Conor Daly last year who basically rode around in the back of the pack for a minute and let Parker Kligerman get into the car after he had broke his collarbone at Watkins Glen in that accident in victory lane. Maybe that's what Christopher does. Maybe he's back by Chicagoland.

[00:03:19]But, it does seem like he'll be missing some time. Maybe they have somebody like Brent Cruise jump in the car. He's been talked about as the heir apparent for Denny Hamlin. Maybe getting him that next gen experience early with a team that is capable of a lot of great things, including wins at JGR, would be in their best interest. You can maybe have a silver lining out of this whole thing. Uh maybe it's Ryan Truex who comes in. Like he came in for Denny Hamlin last year in Mexico. Uh there's plenty of drivers they probably can choose from with this.

[00:03:54]Maybe Corey Heim? I know there's the whole rift with Ty Gibbs and all, but maybe they put that to bed. Who knows?

[00:04:01]But, I do think this also has some pretty big repercussions on the entire season at large, including the Chase fight. So, you know, I showed you all these pictures, I showed you the tweet and all this, and now there is the Chase fight to talk about because this is sports.

[00:04:18]This is motor sports. The world keeps spinning even when a driver is out. And as you can see here, Christopher Bell is 10th in the point standings, 259 out of the lead, and definitely needing to make up a lot of points and a lot of ground if he were to compete for the championship. Well, he's going to be out. He's going to miss time or have relief drivers jump in, which, again, better than nothing, but that also is going to be really difficult when it comes to having to get out of the car, probably having to get out really gingerly when that time comes, if it does come, and then trying to make up that lost time, what, after the first stage, after the first caution, which, for their sake, hopefully is before the first stage caution?

[00:05:06]That's going to put that team in a big hole when it comes to points in general.

[00:05:10]So, whatever happens, if he's gone for four or five races, or if he's gone for a couple and then has relief drivers, this is going to be an important battle to watch. And you see he's not on the screen here. 11th through 19th, the realistic guys on that cut line.

[00:05:26]Christopher Bell is currently 10th plus 81. So, if you were gone for four races and lost 20 points a race on average, he'd still be roughly a point in or right on that cut line. So, by no means chase-wise, does this mean it is the end of Christopher's season.

[00:05:45]Actually, it could still very much be alive. Championship-wise, I highly doubt it. Just because you need to be high up in the points standings, and even if he goes on a tear after coming back, I doubt he's winning four or five races and making his way up to the top five or six. But, when you look at this cutline here, these are all drivers and teams that the 20 and Christopher Bell have been better than this year. You know, I have the stats over here looking at his season just on a numbers perspective, and he's led almost 400 laps. He has five top fives, which outside of Chase Briscoe is more than anybody on this list here.

[00:06:23]Actually, more than anybody up to Kyle Larson uh in sixth in the points standings. So, the 20 team has had speed. They're going to tracks that he'll be good at and that this team has been good at in the past.

[00:06:35]So, to to say that his season is written off from here, even competing, on the mend, or having injuries, is definitely rash, to say the least. I do think that he still makes it if he misses three or four races. Like I said, I I think he's better than Austin Cindric. I think he's better than Brad Keselowski. The Toyotas are on a just crazy toward pace so far, and he's good at a lot of these tracks coming up. He's good at New Hampshire. He's good at Richmond. He's won the All-Star race at North Wilkesboro before.

[00:07:12]So, he should be good there. Toyota's fast at Indianapolis. There's plenty of opportunity for C. Bell to make his way back up the points ladder. But, it's unfortunate, and I I hope that he recovers as quickly as possible. I hope to see him back in the racetrack when I'm at Chicagoland at the start of July.

[00:07:32]So, best wishes to him. So, with that, let me know down below, yes or no, does Christopher Bell still make the Chase for the Cup? I say yes. All right, you a like on this video, share this video, and subscribe this channel for more great fun NASCAR content. Thank you so much all my channel members for your continued support. And until next time, have a good one.

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