Christopher Bell enters The Chase sixth in points, with a legitimate shot at his first Cup Series championship. Just a few months ago, however, even making the postseason looked uncertain. A crash at Michigan left Bell wondering whether his season was finished before it had truly begun. Bell recently revisited those dark moments and explained why simply reaching this point feels like an achievement.

“I remember at Michigan in the infield care center, I thought that, number one, my season could be over and number two, my playoff chances are probably over. We got back and I found out that I didn’t have to have surgery and the likelihood of me racing the following week was higher, I’m like, okay, well, maybe I’ll be able to still fight for a Chase position,” Christopher Bell recently revealed to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

That optimism became reality, although Bell still had to deal with a painful injury. During the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, Bell slammed into the Turn 4 retaining wall on Lap 148 after a hard tangle with Chase Elliott. The collision registered a massive 63 Gs of force, making it one of the hardest recorded impacts of the Cup Series’ Next Gen era.

The crash immediately raised questions about whether Bell would be able to continue his season. He later explained just how quickly he realized something was wrong, specifically with his wrist, as he was trying to exit his wrecked car.

“I just was trying to get out as quick as I could, but yeah, I knew my wrist was broke right away because I couldn’t disconnect my shirt,” Bell revealed during a press conference the following week at Pocono Raceway.

Fortunately for Bell, X-rays revealed a clean, non-displaced fracture in his left wrist. He also suffered heavy bruising around his foot and ankle, but the injuries did not require surgery. That opened the door for Bell to return the following weekend at Pocono.

With help from Joe Gibbs Racing and the medical staff, Bell made the necessary adjustments to keep racing. He moved from a full hard cast to a supportive medical splint, allowing him to regain more natural mobility while managing the pain.

What followed was an impressive recovery on the track. Bell did not simply survive the injury and hang around the Chase cut line. He began putting together the kind of results that quickly changed his championship outlook.

He finished fifth at Sonoma before following it with a runner-up result at Chicagoland. Bell then added second-place finishes at Atlanta, Indianapolis and Iowa, giving him a string of strong performances during the final stretch of the regular season.

Those results transformed his position in the standings in just 11 races (from 12th after Michigan to 6th at the start of the Chase). What once looked like a fight simply to make the postseason has become a championship opportunity.

Bell was himself responsible for the injury

Bell’s Michigan crash was made even more painful by the way he took the impact. The No. 20 Toyota driver kept both hands planted on the steering wheel as the car slammed into the wall, leaving his lower left wrist to absorb a significant amount of the force.

At those speeds, there is little a driver can do once the car is committed to the wall. Steering inputs can transfer the impact through the tires, steering components and column before the force reaches the driver’s hands. Holding tightly to the wheel can therefore put enormous stress on the wrists and create a serious risk of fractures.

That is why Denny Hamlin later weighed in on the incident and the broader question of what drivers should do when a crash becomes unavoidable. Hamlin, in a similar context, defended Danica Patrick’s decision to take her hands off the wheel before a high-speed Daytona impact years earlier, calling it “the smartest thing you can do.”

Patrick faced criticism after her NASCAR Cup Series debut weekend in 2012 when she was involved in a wreck during the first Duel at Daytona. Her car headed toward the wall at high speed, yet her in-car camera showed her removing both hands from the steering wheel before impact.

What looked strange to some fans was actually a decision rooted in physics. The race cars can reach speed upto 190 mph, and impact at such speeds often lead to some nasty crashes. While the Next Gen body has made big strides in terms of driver’s safety, Gripping the wheel can result in major injuries.