Christopher Bell says he was 'too optimistic' about wrist injury ahead of tremendous challenge

Christopher Bell toughed out 400 miles at Pocono Raceway on June 14 only a week after breaking his wrist in a June 7 crash at Michigan International Speedway. 

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver now has a pair of road course races at Naval Base Coronado and Sonoma coming up, but a relief driver, Brent Crews, will be on standby this weekend if Bell can't complete the entirety of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race. 

Christopher Bell facing big challenge at San Diego

"[Pocono] was eye-opening," Bell said Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. "After Michigan, I think I was a little too optimistic of how it was going to impact me moving forward. When we got to Pocono, I could definitely tell... it's going to take some time to heal and I'm not going to be at 100 percent for a little bit.

"I have a great team of doctors and people around me who are making sure that I have everything that I need to be as successful as I can be. We kind of are on a protocol to get a new cast made every week."

Bell wore a cast at Pocono and had a modified steering wheel in order to drive. But at road courses, where left and right turns are necessary, racing injured won't be as easy. 

"I got a new cast this week," Bell said. "They're working with me to make sure I can hold the steering wheel as well as possible. [San Diego] is going to be a challenge for me for sure. Any time that I have to use my left hand to hold the wheel, and certainly turning while shifting is going to be the hardest point. Road courses just have a lot more wheel movement than a track like Pocono."

Needless to say, Sunday's race will be among the biggest challenges of Bell's NASCAR career, and things won't get any easier next week at Sonoma.