Chase Elliott didn’t need a replay to understand the severity of what had happened. The moment Christopher Bell’s No. 20 Toyota hit the SAFER Barrier at Michigan, Elliott was still sliding across the track in his own damaged car. But there was nothing he could have done to prevent what would become the hardest impact in NASCAR in a decade. So, he could only watch something so terrifying unfold so close.

“I alluded to that last week, and it was my fault, right? It was totally on me, and he ended up taking the brunt of my mistake,” Elliott explained to Jeff Gluck with remorse. “So, of course, I felt really bad about that, and I just knew it the moment it was massive. I watched it happen. I was just really concerned about him.”

The crash was massive, as NASCAR communications executive Mike Forde explained.

“Delta-v is the measure of speed lost in an incident,” Forde explained on NASCAR Hauler Talk podcast. “So if you’re going 200 mph and then all of a sudden you come to a stop because you hit a wall and scrub off X amount of speed, that difference is what the Delta-v is.”

While Bell was able to get out of his car on his own, he left the track in a brace. Later on, it was revealed in subsequent diagnoses that Bell ended up with a fractured wrist and an injured ankle. But one has to thank Next Gen’s safety aspects, because the magnitude of the crash was far too scary to guarantee anything. No one has really even experienced that magnitude before in the Next Gen, except for Bell.

So, immediately after the incident, Elliott walked over to Bell and apologized. By the time Elliott reached the media, his account of what happened was bare as ever.

“It was totally my fault. I feel really bad for Bell, just taking him out. I was trying to run the bottom, make use of our fresh tires and at least get to second, I was hoping, and stay side-by-side with him. I just got in there and got free.”

The guilt hasn’t left him since. Bell confirmed how Elliott had checked in on him multiple times throughout the week, saying, “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. I can’t speak highly enough of Chase, as well.”

Part of what made it all feel heavier for Elliott is who Bell is to him – he was a friend before he was a competitor, and the two shared racing values.

“I have a lot of respect for Christopher. He’s a guy that I always got along with really well over the years,” Elliott said. “So yeah, I definitely just hate it happened. Hate it happen to anybody, but certainly a guy who races me with a lot of respect.”

Christopher Bell returns to Pocono after being deemed fit

Joe Gibbs Racing already had Brandon Jones on standby to fill in for Bell if the matter became serious. But that won’t be needed.

“I’m fully committed to planning on running 400 miles,” the #20 driver insisted right after getting cleared by the doctor.

So, he showed up to Pocono in a cast, cleared to race, and made clear he wasn’t holding anything against Elliott. “To get out of there with just a fractured wrist is pretty immaculate,” he told reporters. “I owe all of the credit to NASCAR and my team for building safe cars.”

A crash that forced nearly 63Gs of impact on him is not enough to deter him from advancing his Cup career this season. And the urgency is understandable, since Bell is yet to win a race, and he is currently sitting in P10 in the driver standings.

At this point, Bell would definitely make the cut. But when his teammate is fighting for the Regular Season championship, he wouldn’t want to miss out on the fun with one of the best-performing cars at his disposal.