Christopher Bell explains what he saw after scary moment with tire changer

Christopher Bell left New Hampshire with a strong fourth-place finish on Sunday, but the solid performance did not come without drama.

After a two-tire pit stop, Bell went to get back to racing, but his front-tire changer Blake Houston had not cleared out of his position, and wound up being knocked down by the No. 20 car.

It was a simple timing mistake, but that didn’t make the scene any less scary.

Not an ideal pit stop for Christopher Bell. 🫣 pic.twitter.com/ItvGwPOsiu

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Bell immediately checked with his team on the radio to make sure Houston was okay. “”He’s a little shook up, but he’s alright,” crew chief Adam Stevens told him.

Despite the shake-up, Bell was able to recover from the mishap and secure a fourth-place finish, bumping him up into fifth place in the points standings with just one race remaining in the regular season.

“We had the mishap on pit road, and then the team was able to persevere and get back to finish about where we should have,” Bell said after the race. “Really happy with fourth place today, just lacking a little bit right now.”

Bell explained that his contact with Houston came down to his signal to move.

“It was certainly tough. My signal to go is the jack dropping. On a two-tire stop, they’re supposed to be gone across the front of the car,” Bell said. “Whenever the jack dropped I saw he was still there and then I saw him kind of flopping around in my rearview camera. I’m like, ‘I didn’t feel my car jump up in the air, so I knew I didn’t run him over, but I hope he didn’t get his finger stuck in the wheel or anything.'”

Watch: Bell relieved front-tire changer OK after pit-road scare

Bell went on to praise his pit crew and the crews across the sport for the work they put in despite the dangers of the job.

“It’s alarming, and it’s very eye-opening. These guys jumping over pit wall are risking it. I’m super grateful for all of the pit crew members, but specifically my team. They do a really good job, and I’m glad Blake’s okay.”

With Bell moving up to fifth place in the standings, Joe Gibbs Racing now has all four of its drivers in the top six heading into Daytona next week, after which the field of 16 drivers for the Chase will be locked in.

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