When you get into the final stages of a NASCAR Cup Series race, no matter which track, you’ll always have drivers that are fighting super hard to be able to gain any potential ground they can. With the numerous pit strategies that Pocono Raceway provides, as well as the insanity that usually breaks out on restarts, you’re bound to have some trouble.
Well, we had our fair share of that inside the final stage of Sunday’s Exploring the Pocono Mountains 350.
On the restart, it all started with contact between Ross Chastain and Christopher Bell, sending Bell into the outside wall with a decent amount of damage. The contact also cut a tire on Chastain’s No. 42, causing the McDonald’s Chevrolet to go up the track in turn one and have to limp back to pit road.
While nobody made contact with Chastain, the next time around in turn three was even more eventful, with 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Chase Elliott getting loose underneath Bell, sending the No. 20 into the outside wall hard. The damage sent Bell to pit road for repairs and would also eventually come back to bite Elliott, who had to pit twice for two different flat tires.
WHOA.
Chase Elliott gets loose, and hits Christopher Bell! #NASCAR // NBCSN pic.twitter.com/OjisJ4GURV
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 27, 2021
Bell would cycle back to 34th-place, five laps down, while both Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain would be stranded one lap down in the mid-20s.
