Last weekend, with a win at the Brickyard, Bubba Wallace locked himself into the playoffs. However, plenty of drama and action unfolded behind him, and one of those incidents involved Christopher Bell. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was in the middle of the pack when he appeared to right-hook the #38 of Zane Smith. In the end, Bell finished 8th, while Smith was out of the race and bitterly disappointed.

Naturally, right hooking drivers is frowned upon because it gives the impression of being deliberate. And if so, they are punished accordingly. The #20 driver was obviously mortified because he did not intend to punt out his rival. After all, the driver looked in fine form before Bell’s move ended his day. Which is why, after the race, Bell personally sought out Smith’s team and apologized to them for the unfortunate mishap. And now, though the incident is in the past, Bell recently expressed his remorse that went viral on X and opened up on why he did what he did after the race.

Christopher Bell felt mortified by his actions against Smith

Bell’s actions clearly show he was guilty about how the incident turned out. While speaking to Frontstretch, he reflected on his remorse, saying,“It was bad. It was really bad. That was a really bad mistake on my part, and I made my mind up the second after — ‘I have to go apologize to everyone.'” Though Bell has been lucky enough to never be on the receiving end of such a mishap, he still knows what one has to goes through in such situations.

Bell was again lucky when NASCAR reviewed the incident and deemed it a mistimed aggressive move rather than intentional retaliation. But even Zane Smith’s tire changer, Ryan Flores, described how Smith showed up like a man and just plainly apologized for what he did, without excuses. “For the first time ever, a driver walked up to all of our pit guys and apologized. He’s like, ‘I just misjudged it. Passing misjudged. I’m sorry.’”, Flores said.

Recalling the actual aftermath of the race, Bell said, “I walked by their pit box, saw their pit crew guys turning down their pit box, I apologized to them. Wandered over to the hauler, tried to find Zane, he wasn’t around. But was able to talk to the crew guys. Even ran into the crew chief on the way there and I felt really bad about it. It was obviously a great run for them and they were doing really good, and my mistake took them out.”

A gesture like this, what Bell did, is not common to see in the racing world. Especially considering the fuming state that the Front Row Motorsports team could be in with the incident being too fresh when Bell went in. In fact, Bell was also aware of this, and despite being nervous, he was ready to face any consequences from them for this. He said, “I knew I deserved what was coming. I’m gonna own it. If I want to walk up there and they want to ‘M-F’ me and tell me to get out, I deserve that in that moment. I felt like I owed them the respect.”

Bell noted that the Front Row Motorsports team was busy packing up their car. When asked about their reaction to his apology, he was optimistic about it and hoped for the best. “I don’t know, they were busy doing their thing, trying to load the car up. Hopefully, it meant something to them; they were busy doing their thing,” he concluded.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has been in a bit of a slump lately

In the early part of the 2025 season, Christopher Bell went on an absolute tear. He won three straight races from Atlanta to Phoenix, but has not made an impression since. Additionally, he has frequently been involved in a number of wrecks in recent races. His incident with Zane Smith is just the latest in a long line of wrecks that he has been a part of.

In Atlanta, he was involved in a multi-car crash during Stage 1, triggered after contact with Kyle Larson. On Turn 4, Bell’s #20 Toyota spun, which was further hit by Bubba Wallace, ending his race. Then at Dover, despite leading 67 laps and winning Stage 2, Bell spun twice late in the race—once off the restart in Turn 3, and again battling for the lead—finishing in 18th position.

This weekend at Iowa, he is starting the race in 17th place. It puts him as the third-best JGR car, behind pole-sitter Chase Briscoe and 11th-place Denny Hamlin. Meanwhile, JGR’s $1 million winner of the In-Season Challenge, Ty Gibbs, starts on the 20th.