Christopher Bell crew chief Adam Stevens out for multiple weeks after injury, double knee surgery
This week at Richmond and for the next few weeks, Christopher Bell will be without crew chief Adam Stevens at the track. The NASCAR crew chief suffered an injury over the break and had to have surgery on both of his knees.
With Adam Stevens, 46, out indefinitely, at least at the track, Christopher Bell will work with Chris Sherwood on the box. The No. 20 team has three wins this season. So, they are fine as far as playoffs are concerned.
Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports shared the news on X.com, formerly known as Twitter.
Pockrass shared a statement from Stevens on the situation.
“I hate that I won’t be at the track for a few weeks, but I will be fully engaged remotely. I am very thankful for the depth and strength of this 20 team and don’t anticipate my physical absence having any effect on our performance. The surgery went well.”
Most importantly in all of this, the surgery went well. It sounds like Stevens is on his way to recovering. Christopher Bell will be shorthanded at the track, but with the way teams have “war rooms” now, his crew chief will, in fact, be fully engaged as he said.
Bell has performed well this season. Stevens is a championship-winning crew chief, he knows what he is doing. Together, they have won races and made it to the Championship 4, twice. Since winning at New Hampshire, this team has been trying to refocus and get the results they expect.
Christopher Bell fresh off P4 at Indy
The good news for Christopher Bell, he had a top-5 finish the last time NASCAR was on the track. Indianapolis was good for Bell. It didn’t feel like he was going to win the Brickyard 400, but he was in a great position late, and it led to a P4 result.
Between his rain-delayed win at Charlotte and his dominating win at New Hampshire, Bell finished P7, P9, and P4. Between New Hampshire and Indianapolis, he had two DNFs and a P12 finish. It’s been that kind of year for the 20 team.
In the last two seasons, this group has peaked in the NASCAR Playoffs. They have three playoff wins between 2022 and 2023. Last season, Bell won four pole awards in the postseason including three in a row to sweep the first round.
I suspect that Christopher Bell and his team will be fine with Adam Stevens being out. He isn’t really going to be out, he will be working remotely with a ton of data at his disposal. Chris Sherwood has a very important job to do, though.