NASCAR and EssentiallySports wish Christopher Bell’s crew chief, Adam Stevens, a speedy recovery. Chris Sherwood, a name you may not have heard too often, is manning C.Bell’s pit box at Richmond. In his place, the #20 car chief isn’t doing all that bad as the replacement after all. Chris Sherwood, a name you may not have heard too often, is manning C.Bell’s pit box at Richmond. And by the look of things after the practice and qualifying sessions, those guys seem to have it all figured out for the Sunday Federated Autoparts 400 race.

But with some major changes awaiting the entire field at the 2024 Federated Auto Parts 400, a lot could go wrong for this unfamiliar lineup on the #20 team. Although the driver is certain of the abilities in the possession of his impromptu pit boss, you wouldn’t exactly expect a NASCAR race to run out without hindrances for even the best of personnel. And preparing for his Richmond advance, Bell revealed what could end up becoming his biggest obstacle this Sunday to Bob Pockrass.

The big coordination issue for Christopher Bell & the #20 team at Richmond?

For those who don’t know yet, Adam Stevens ruptured the patellar tendon in both his knees in a diving accident during the two-week Olympic break. Of course, the crew chief wasn’t diving for the US team in Paris. The man was trying to ‘out-flip’ his 15-year-old son at a pool surrounded by family.

Stevens is known to have partnered with championship-worthy drivers. He used to be the crew chief of Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing earlier and won two championships with the #18 team, and he has been integral in helping Christopher Bell grow in NASCAR since day one. Together, the duo has won nine races so far in only three years. But as for Chris Sherwood? In Bell’s own words, “I’m very comfortable with him… I’ve been working with him since my Xfinity days back in 2018 and ‘19. So I think we should be fine.”

Sherwood normally operates as the car chief of the #20 team. If you’re familiar with Christopher Bell’s stellar advances this season, you would know his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry XSE is more often than not the best car on the grid on most weekends. He has won the pole award once at Kansas, started inside the top 5 nine times, and won three races so far this season. All of that has been only possible because of complete coordination between each member of the #20 group.

Regardless, although Stevens assures fans he is safe and on his way to full rehabilitation from the freak injury, Pockrass asked Bell if there is any race where he might need his full-time crew chief with the approaching playoffs. The #20 driver realizes that “the playoffs are really important.” However, in complete honesty, he told the FOX journalist, “If we don’t have technical difficulties from communication from Huntersville to the racetrack, then it’s not going to be much different. So as long as everything goes to plan, I’m not going to notice a difference in the car. Where it can get tricky is if we were to lose internet on the pit box, which does happen every now and then. I don’t know what they have worked through with that. But that’s going to be different.”

For more context, Adam Stevens will watch the events unfold on Sunday live from the JGR ‘war-room’ in Huntersville, North Carolina. To help Sherwood and C. Bell acclimatize better, the two-decade-plus NASCAR veteran will be strategizing for the #20 team from his unfortunate off-track location. It is still unknown when Stevens will make a formal return, although a patellar tendon tear could take anywhere from a few weeks to an entire year for full recovery based on the severity of the incident. Although his driver looks to be doing just fine in his absence with his car chief-turned-crew chief, Sherwood. It will be a home track race for the Virginia native who was born only a couple of hours away in the town of Portsmouth.

On Saturday, this new pairing posted the third-fastest times in practice with the new tire options. They qualified 5th on the grid for the Cook Out 400. And if things go well, Christopher Bell could turn into the biggest threat to his pole-winner teammate Denny Hamlin on Sunday. But when speaking about Adam Stevens, C. Bell made some revealing disclosures that shed light on the true character of his originally designated crew chief.

The invisible strategist, leading from the ‘War Room’

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47-year-old Stevens has been having a season to remember with Christopher Bell in 2024. In their last two years of association, the duo registered only 5 wins. This year, they’ve won five races, and the season hasn’t even touched the playoffs yet. So, when the news of his unfortunate incident circulated across global feeds last week, it led many to believe that Christopher Bell’s championship aspirations were over for good once again.

But as it appears, Stevens hasn’t been missing a moment of “preparation” back at the JGR shop. When Pockrass asked if Stevens had missed anything in the recent moment, Bell replied, “No, he hasn’t. And it’s been funny because he literally can’t bend his knees, right? His knees have got to be straight. And I asked him like, ‘Are you going to be around the shop?’ And he’s like, ‘Uh, not really, you know, I’ll come in for the important days like our Monday debriefs and stuff like that. And then the guys that we got on the airplane today, the guys are like, ‘That sucker’s been in the shop every single day this week.’ So you’re not going to be able to keep him down. That’s for sure.”

As for Stevens receiving any further flak for his little freak accident? “You gotta live your life,” thinks the #20 driver. In his eyes, it’s a “fluke deal,” and Bell’s sure that Stevens will “be back at some point,” hopefully stronger from the entire ordeal. Will it be in time for Bell to kick off his Round of 16 advances? That seems to be the real question bothering the #20 team. For now, they must focus on the unpredictable conditions in Richmond.