Christopher Bell, a three-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, is out of Sunday’s Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway after a helacious hit to the inside SAFER Barrier.
The Norman, Oklahoma-native, who has been extremely vocal about his disdain for superspeedway-type racing, was leading the field on a restart late in the race’s first stage, when the accident started.
Driving the No. 20 Sport Clips Toyota Camry XSE, Bell was turned around after a major bump from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, which tipped him down the racetrack into the side of Chris Buescher.
As both drivers spun down the racetrack at a high rate of speed, Bell nosed into the inside wall head-on and pretty severely, causing a ton of damage to his racecar. Meanwhile, Buescher slapped the inside wall with the right-side door.
Despite the vicious impact to the inside wall, which was reminiscent of Connor Zilisch’s last-lap accident in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series event, Bell emerged from the infield care center uninjured.
“I think I feel really good. I don’t know, my HANS device, my seat, my belts, everything seemed like it did well. It was a big one, that’s for sure,” said the 12-time NASCAR Cup Series winner.
Unfortunately for Bell, despite being in control of the 39-car NASCAR Cup Series field, the perennial championship contender was unable to control the situation behind him, including the bump he got from Denny Hamlin.
“Nothing,” Bell said when asked what he could have done to avoid the incident. “Whenever you’re the car getting pushed, you’re completely at the mercy of the guy behind you. You know, Denny (Hamlin) didn’t do anything wrong. You have to push, you have to push to be successful. It’s a product of the cars we race with this rules package.”
Both Christopher Bell and Chris Buescher sustained heavy damage to their machines and were forced to retire from the Jack Link’s 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, and barring a post-race inspection failure, will finish 36th and 37th.
