A NASCAR executive revealed that Christopher Bell’s crash at Michigan International Speedway was the hardest impact the Next Gen car has ever taken — and the biggest hit in at least a decade.
Bell suffered a broken wrist after Chase Elliott lost control of his No. 9 Chevrolet between Turns 3 and 4, sending Elliott’s car careening into Bell’s No. 20 Toyota. The impact sent Bell hard into the SAFER barrier.
NASCAR communications executive Mike Forde disclosed the crash severity on the official “NASCAR Hauler Talk” podcast, explaining that the measurement was determined using Delta-v data.
“Delta-v is the measure of speed lost in an incident. 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.”
Forde declined to release the specific Delta-v number, calling it “proprietary data,” though NASCAR shares the figures with teams and drivers. The organization also measures G-forces in crashes but leaves it to teams whether to make those numbers public.
Bell climbed out of the car after the crash and has been cleared to race this weekend at Pocono despite the broken wrist. The wreck also dropped him three spots in the standings to 10th place.
Denny Hamlin, Bell’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, won Sunday’s race at Michigan.
