“Really Bad Mistake on My Part”: Why Christopher Bell Took It Upon Himself to Apologize to Zane Smith’s Team

Christopher Bell has proven once again why he is the ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ in the NASCAR Cup Series. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver did something that no driver would do after crashing into Zane Smith during the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis last Sunday, ending the No. 38 team’s hopes of securing a potential top-10 finish. He went and apologized to every single member in the Front Row Motorsports garage.

During the race’s overtime restart, Bell had made contact with Smith and sent him crashing into the wall. Replays showed him hitting the back end of Smith’s car and turning him to the right. But there’d been no prior run-ins between the drivers, ruling out any notion of revenge. The first thing that Bell did in the aftermath was acknowledge that the mistake was his. 

The gesture left many impressed. This week at Iowa Speedway, Bell detailed the thoughts that were on his mind when he did the deed. He said, “It was really bad. That was a really, really bad mistake on my part. I made up my mind literally the second after I said, ‘I have to apologize to everyone.’

“I walked by their pit box, saw their pit-crew guys — they were tearing down the pit box, so I apologized to them. Then wandered over to the hauler. Tried to find Zane, he wasn’t around, but was able to talk to the crew guys.”

Bell admitted that he’d been prepared for any outcome when he went over to talk to them. But the feeling of fear wasn’t greater than the need he felt to show accountability. 

Bell earns the goodwill of the No. 38 team

When drivers get into accidents by mistake, the best they can do is call each other a day or two after Sunday to clear out misunderstandings. Bell would have been perfectly right if he’d done the same. But what he chose to do instead has left the members of the No. 38 team thoroughly pleased.

Ryan Flores, tire changer, said on the Stacking Pennies podcast, “For the first time ever, a driver walked up to all of our pit crew guys and apologized. He went to our truck and apologized to all our road crew guys.

“That takes balls after you wreck somebody’s stuff to go and stop and say, ‘Hey man, I’m sorry.’ It’s one thing to call the driver on Tuesday, but to go face all the guys and do that, that’s really one of the first times I’ve remembered that.”

This proves that nobody on the field has their ethics game on point more than Bell. He will start Sunday’s race in Iowa from 17th on the grid.