Christopher Bell reveals details of crew chief’s ‘incredible’ crash ahead of Cook Out 400

Christopher Bell’s crew chief Adam Stevens suffered a major crash and severely injured his knees during a family vacation ahead of NASCAR’s Cook Out 400 race at Richmond Raceway. The incident, which occurred when Stevens disastrously broke both knees while falling off a diving board, sidelined him from the upcoming race.

As the team deals with this unexpected setback, Christopher Sherwood, previously Bell’s car chief, has been appointed as interim crew chief. Sherwood, known for his previous role as a mechanic on Bell’s Xfinity cars at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2018 and 2019, is no stranger to high-pressure environments, having filled in for Stevens during a Cup Series weekend at Watkins Glen International in 2021.

Speaking to the media before the Cook Out 400, Bell said, as quoted by NASCAR.com:

“I mean, I guess he said he was jumping and he literally broke both of his knees. That’s crazy.”

“I’d never heard of it before, but then I found out. My car boss, Chris Sherwood (now actually my crew chief), and his wife told me they’d seen that before, but I’m scared of jumping off a diving board, that’s for sure.”

Richmond Raceway is a track where Bell has historically performed well, with three wins in five Xfinity Series races, though he has yet to score a Cup Series victory there. With an average finish of 7.5 in eight starts, expectations are high for Bell to build on his past successes, despite the new challenges.

“This is definitely a track that we’ve looked at as a track that we run well at and expect to score a lot of points at. What’s really interesting about Richmond is that it’s a place that’s full of last-minute pit strategy decisions, right? And with Adam not being in the pit box, if there’s any kind of lag between the information that he’s getting in Huntersville, North Carolina, and what we’re actually doing here in Richmond, it could be a little bit tricky because at this place, it’s all about executing your pit strategy, whether you’re coming into a short pit or a long pit, and there’s a lot of last-minute decisions that have to be made here in Richmond.

“I think every week that we’re not with Adam, it’s going to get easier and easier as we get into a routine, but I don’t know. I mean, I’m confident that we’re going to be strong and hopefully we won’t lose our rhythm.”

Despite this, Bell has strong confidence in Sherwood’s abilities.

“Honestly, there’s nobody better for the job than Sherwood, just because I feel so comfortable with him. He was my mechanic on my Xfinity cars at JGR in 2018, 2019, so we have a long history. And Adam is still there, basically he’s going to do his job. The communication will be through Sherwood because Adam can’t be here. But yeah, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”