NASCAR executive reveals that Christopher Bell's Michigan crash was hardest impact in a decade
Bell broke his wrist but has been cleared to race at Pocono after the wreck caused by Chase Elliott losing control
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}One of the big stories coming out of Sunday's race at Michigan International Speedway didn't have to do with race-winner Denny Hamlin; it had to do with a massive crash involving Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell.
Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott lost control of his No. 9 Chevrolet, and it went careening up the track between Turns 3 and 4 into Bell.
That sent Bell's No. 20 hard into the SAFER barrier.
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That was a massively consequential wreck for a few reasons. First and foremost, it left Bell, who was fortunately able to climb out of his car, with a broken wrist, though he has been cleared to race this weekend at Pocono.
Additionally, it dropped him three places in the standings down to 10th.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Christopher Bell's crash at Michigan International Speedway was the hardest hit the Next Gen car has ever taken and was the biggest impact in at least a decade. (Photo by Brett Farmer/Getty Images))
But it turns out that the impact wasn't just big; a NASCAR executive says it was the biggest hit the Next Gen car — introduced in 2022 — has ever seen, and it's also the hardest impact in a decade.
According to Motorsport, NASCAR communications executive Mike Forde was on the official "NASCAR Hauler Talk" podcast when he revealed that the hit was the hardest a Next Gen car had ever taken.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He said that this was determined using a measurement known as Delta-v.
"Delta-v is the measure of speed lost in an incident," he explained. "So if you’re going 200 mph and then all of a sudden you come to a stop because you hit a wall and scrub off X amount of speed, that difference is what the Delta-v is."
Chase Elliott (No. 9) and Christopher Bell (No. 20) were involved in a massive crash at Michigan International Speedway. (Photo by Brett Farmer/Getty Images)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Forde declined to give out a number, saying that this is essentially "proprietary data," though it is shared with the team and with the driver.
NASCAR also measures the G-forces involved in these incidents, and that was also shared with the team. It is up to them whether they want to release those figures to the public.