Instead of looking forward to the race result at Michigan, the crowd was waiting for a driver. Christopher Bell remained in the infield care center for nearly an hour after a scary crash with Chase Elliott at the FireKeepers Casino 400. He declined all interview requests before being eventually released. But the concern lingered as team owner Joe Gibbs had noted in a press conference that Bell’s wrist and ankle were both under evaluation. And then the community got its first real update on Bell’s condition from the driver in the next bed over.

“Christopher laid next to me, and I could tell he was in pain,” Smith said as both drivers were being treated for separate incidents during the race.

Smith’s day ended after he had a left rear tire failure that sent him into the wall when he was running ninth. However, Bell’s crash was so frightening that it made Smith say, “That is as violent as it gets.”

It was a lap 148 accident with Chase Elliott that took out Bell. The crash happened near the front of the field. In a restart, Elliott got loose underneath Christopher when fighting for position. As he tried to correct the number 9, the car snapped sharply to the right and slammed into Bell’s Toyota. That sent Christopher Bell head-on into the outside wall, where speed can go above 200 mph.

Bell’s car was on fire briefly, and the impact also damaged the SAFER barrier that forced NASCAR to red flag the race for 20 minutes.

“The heavy backs into the walls look super violent and are super violent, but man, it’s just as violent when it’s car-to-car because it’s like two engines meeting at once,” Smith said, speaking with Amazon Prime’s Steve Letarte.

The crash didn’t leave just Smith in shock, but the entire garage, as Ty Gibbs asked, “Dang, is he alright?” And Bubba Wallace said, “Holy shit, please tell me that guy’s alright … My God, that was the scariest hit I’ve ever seen.”

A picture began circulating online of Bell leaving the track in a cast. And soon after Smith’s comments, it was revealed why exactly Bell was in pain.

“After being evaluated and released from the infield care center, Bell returned home to North Carolina where X-rays confirmed the fracture. Bell has been cleared and will be behind the wheel of the No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE this weekend at Pocono Raceway,” JGR said in a release.

Earlier, there was speculation that Bell might miss the Pocono race, which would have ended his streak that goes back to his Cup promotion in 2021. But the release put an end to that, as Bell also said on X, ” See you in Pocono!”

Before Michigan, Christopher Bell Was Finally In Momentum

Still, the timing couldn’t be worse for Bell and the #20 team. He had a bad stretch that had five finishes of 17th or worse. But now Bell was getting back into momentum with back-to-back runner-up positions in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and at Nashville Superspeedway.

These results brought him back into conversation. They also brought him to 7th in the standings entering Michigan. Remarkable is the fact that Bell still has not won a Cup race in 2026, despite five top-five finishes, a pole position, and having led 398 laps.

At Michigan, he was 258 points behind the season leader, Tyler Reddick. And before the weekend, when he crashed, he ran in the Truck Series race at Michigan. There, he won both stages, finishing 6th for Halmar Friesen Racing.

Away from the track, Bell also became the face of Mobil 1’s “Every Mile Matters” campaign, which is about him going from racing yard karts at four to becoming a 13-time Cup Series winner.

That is why everyone’s looking for answers about what’s going to happen with Bell.