NASCAR driver Christopher Bell of the Joe Gibbs Racing team will be without his crew chief for at least a few weeks after Adam Stevens revealed he suffered a brutal injury in a diving accident.
Stevens joined SiriusXM NASCAR Radio to discuss the incident, which occurred when he was on a family vacation over the break.
NASCAR is currently in a holding pattern on break thanks to the Olympics going on, and many drivers and crew chiefs have taken some much needed rest and relaxation while away from the sport.
Unfortunately, for Stevens that ended in disaster.
“We were swimming in the pool Saturday afternoon taking turns diving off the diving board with the nieces and nephews and my kids and doing flips and just enjoying ourself,” Stevens explained. “I felt like my flips weren’t quite as impressive as my 15-year-old son, so I amped my game up a little bit and it was fine. Another turn through the line and try a little harder. They were getting prettier. My last trip, probably ever now at this point, I just jumped a little too hard and loaded up a little bit too much on the end of the diving board and ruptured both my patellar tendons at the same time.”
Stephens had to undergo surgery to repair both knees, so he’ll be sidelined for quite a bit.
In the meantime, Chris Sherwood will serve as Christopher Bell’s crew chief. That will force a little adjustment in terms of chemistry, so it’ll be interesting to see how the team fares.
As for Stevens, he was just enjoying what he thought would be a laid-back few days with family.
“Yeah, you know, I was just enjoying some down time with the family,” he said. “We ventured up to my hometown of Portsmouth, Ohio, to see some aunts and uncles and cousins and family that I haven’t got to see. Got to see my sister and my mother, a couple of my sisters actually that I do get to see. It was just a good time. Played a lot of golf and went swimming and hung out and just enjoyed each others’ company.”
Leave a Reply