Erik Jones was in the infield care center when Bell was brought in, with his earpiece knocked out during impact, so his spotter and wife had no idea if he was conscious. Jones watched him from the next bed and gave the most real update on Bell’s injury at that time: “That is as violent as it gets.”

It wasn’t until Tuesday that JGR confirmed a fractured left wrist and an injured ankle, after Bell went through X-rays upon returning home to North Carolina. Then, on Saturday at Pocono, Bell finally explained what happened inside the cockpit.

“Knew my wrist was broke right away because I couldn’t disconnect my shirt,” Christopher Bell told the media. “I was still hands on the wheel, hands turned left, and then my left hand, which was on the bottom, my wrist was bent over like that on the underside of the wheel, and then just the force into the steering wheel.”

On Lap 148 of the FireKeepers Casino 400, Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet got loose on a restart and drifted up into Bell’s No. 20 Toyota entering Turn 3. Both cars hit the outside SAFER Barrier at nearly 200 mph. Bell’s Toyota caught fire on impact, and the SAFER Barrier itself was damaged badly enough that NASCAR red-flagged the race for repairs. Bell was evaluated at the infield care center and left Michigan without saying a word publicly.