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NASCAR Championship 4 Chaos: What We Know About Martinsville Finish, Potential Race Manipulation

What was an incredible race and playoff battle at Martinsville Speedway — arguably the best race at the track in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Next Gen car — will instead be remembered for all the wrong reasons.

With Christopher Bell and William Byron separated by one point for the final playoff spot in the Championship 4, shenanigans ensued between both drivers and manufacturers. Byron was running in sixth and quickly losing ground to the top five in the closing laps of the race, but the Chevrolets of Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon ran two-wide behind him, forming a barrier against the rest of the field that kept Byron in sixth.

See also
Another NASCAR Playoff Scandal in Virginia

Bell, who was one lap down to the field in 19th, was going to be out by one point until Bubba Wallace slowed dramatically in the final three laps, which allowed Bell to pass him to make the pass in turn 3. But the No. 20 car missed the corner and had to ride the wall out of turn 4 to take the checkered flag.

Bell had stayed in front of the No. 23 car to clinch the last Championship 4 spot on a tiebreaker, but after an anxious 20 minutes of waiting, NASCAR elected to penalize Bell with a safety violation for riding the wall on the final lap. The penalty dropped Bell four spots (the last car one lap down), and Byron instead joined Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney as the last member of the Championship 4.

At least for now.

Christopher Bell’s Wall Ride & Bubba Wallace’s Slowdown

When interviewed after the race for how he lost all that ground, Wallace explained that he had a mechanical failure that caused him to fall off the pace in the final laps.

“I went loose and something broke, so I was just nursing it,” Wallace said. “… Just trying to bide our time and not crash and bring out a caution and jumble up the whole field. That was it.”

Indeed, Wallace’s final lap was 24.891 seconds, more than three seconds slower than the final lap for the top five finishers. Seventeen of the first 20 cars to take the checkered flag ran a lap faster than 22 seconds, while Bell’s last lap after missing the corner and riding the wall out of turn 4 was 22.506 seconds.

But the slow lap time did not play in Bell’s favor for the decision handed out by NASCAR, and he was eliminated from the playoffs despite posting the best average finish of every driver in the postseason.

“I made a mistake and I slid into the wall,” Bell said. “And unfortunately, they ruled that as a safety violation. … I don’t know what to say. I didn’t advance my position into the wall; I lost time on the racetrack. It’s not meant to be. It’s fine.”

He was surprised that a penalty was even a topic of conversation.

“I didn’t think I was going to get penalized at all,” Bell said. “I didn’t even think a penalty was in the cards.”

When asked if the penalty was unfair, Bell said, “I’m going to keep my mouth shut.”

Byron, as expected, expressed pleasure with NASCAR’s ruling.

“Thankful NASCAR looked at it, that they have rules in place, and that’s what it is,” Byron said.

“… I have a hard time feeling happy in this situation, but we raced as hard as we could. We raced within the rules and everything like that. It is what it is at that point, we were tied on points, and like I said, the wall ride is what it is. Just had to fight through that, and glad to race for a championship for sure.

In the decision to penalize Bell, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer used the ruling put in place after Chastain’s famous Hail Melon at Martinsville to make the Championship 4 two years ago as the reasoning for handing out a penalty to the No. 20 team.

“Obviously we look at all the video, and as I back up on that and you go back two years ago when we had the situation with Ross here, we went to Phoenix [and] there was a lot of dialogue with the drivers that that’s not a move that we want to have to make on the last lap,” Sawyer said.

“… There was language in the rule book, and when you look at it today, [Bell] clearly got up against the fence there in 3 and 4 and rode the fence all the way, all four there, and that’s strictly to protect our drivers as well as our fans.

“So yeah, that [call] was pretty straightforward.”

Ross Chastain & Austin Dillon’s Radio Communications, Battle with William Byron

While NASCAR did not make a ruling on Byron, Chastain and Dillon, the fact that the latter two drivers did not pass Byron raised some eyebrows with how far the No. 24 car had fallen off the pace.

Those eyebrows were raised even more after the NBC broadcast played radio communications from Dillon’s team that showed they were aware of Byron’s points situation, and that he would be out of the playoffs if Dillon had attempted to pass him.

Furthermore, Dillon’s team wondered over the radio if Chastain’s team also knew Byron’s situation, to which someone on the No. 3 team replied, “he should.”

And sure enough, Dillon and Chastain had run side-by-side with each other for the final three minutes of the race, never in a position to pass Byron, who ended the race nearly a full straightaway behind the car ahead of him.

Bell was none too happy with the developments toward the front of the pack.

“It was clear what was going on,” Bell said. “The No. 24 came back to me probably a straightaway or something.”

When asked about the Nos. 1 and 3 cars racing side-by-side behind him at the end of the race, Byron insisted that they raced hard and that they never laid off to avoid passing him.

“No one moved me, and they gave me room to catch my car and didn’t move me,” Byron said. “They raced me hard, and I just didn’t have a lot of rear tires left. I needed all of the racetrack, and I was using all of it.

“… They never moved me but they were racing hard. They’re still getting in the corner hard and they’re not lifting down the straightaway, [leaving a] big margin to get back to somebody like the No. 23 did. It’s hard racing, and we’re all at the limit.”

See also
Ryan Blaney Wins at Martinsville, William Byron Earns Championship 4 Spot on Christopher Bell Penalty

When asked about Dillon and Chastain racing side-by-side behind Byron, the radio communications from Dillon’s team and Wallace falling off the pace at the end of the race, Sawyer said that race control did not review those incidents and had only taken a closer look at Bell’s wall ride.

“If you look at the other situations that were going [on], the [No.] 23 and the cars behind the [No.] 24, [they] really had no bearing at this time,” Sawyer said. “We’ll look at those at a later time.”

Now the question turns to what happens once NASCAR reviews those incidents. Do Wallace, Dillon and Chastain or their teams receive penalties if it’s determined they had intentionally lagged back at the end of the race? Does Byron receive a penalty? Is the Championship 4 truly set in stone?

We’ll find out sometime this week.

About the author

Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly columns include “Stat Sheet” and “4 Burning Questions.” He also writes commentary, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.

Can find on Twitter @stephen_stumpf.

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26 Comments
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SB

Seems to me that a season long title would cure most of these ills. Just sayin.

Kevin in SoCal

Not really. The same thing could happen if the second or third place driver was close to the overall points leader, too.

Tony

They got their Hendrick car in. Nothing more to see here.

RCFX1

Bell’s hit on the wall is nothing at all like Chastain’s. You see him getting loose, trying to gather it up, hit the wall in the corner (where he can’t pull it off) and then once he can pull it to the left, he straightens up and goes down the straight. Nascar screwed up again. It’s like every race there is another screw up by the sanctioning body.

Steve

You could see in the in-car he had the wheel way to the left trying to get off that wall. Nothing like Chastain I agree.

MikeinAZ

Exactly, what Bell did versus what Chastain did, were two totally different situations,

Ted

This whole situation is hilarious. If they knock Byron out of the Championship, they can’t put Bell in because the Wallace manipulation for Bell. They can’t put Larson or Elliott in because Larson admitted to attempting to manipulate the race for Elliott by blocking the 12 and trying to slow him down and knock him out of the way (and would put an HMS driver in anyway). That would then leave Hamlin, whose team owned 23 of Wallace manipulated for his own JGR teammate Bell. What a mess. 🤔🙈🙉🤷🏼‍♂️🤣

Last edited 1 month ago by Ted
Steve

Looking at it that way, its absolutely hilarious and Nascar deserves every bit of this headache since they created it themselves. Like a poster said above, make it a season long points battle and this eliminates all of it. Waiting around 20 minutes for Nascar to make a decision was a joke. Bell knew what was going to happen. No Hendrick car in the final 4 is unacceptable to Nascar.

Last edited 1 month ago by Steve
janice

i was kind of surprised that they didn’t try to get the win for chase to get him into the playoffs since chase has done very little this year. mr. most popular driver vote getter.

DoninAjax

If Bubba had the problem he said he had why didn’t he just go into the pits and Bell would have got the final spot without the last lap fiasco. Or would that have been a worse look and controversy? But then there is the alleged Chevy manipulation raising a lot of questions.

The law of unintended consequences is getting NA$CAR just what they deserve! Brian and his sycophants should be proud of the improvements to the product that is so much more entertaining now, especially after the events.

I wonder what the difference in the amount of the cheques from Mr. H and Reverend Joe was?.

Echo

bubba isn’t very bright. On the radio he thought he had a tire going down. In the interview he kept saying something broke. All the time his eyes were darting here and there and never looking her in the face. Very bad liar.

WJW Motorsports

As long as the gambling community is comfortable with the result, so am I.

gbvette62

It seems almost every year since NASCAR started the stupid Chase and Playoffs, something new happens to cause a problem or hiccup for them. I think it serves them right, as SB said “a season long title would cure most of these ills”.

I do think they made the right decision though, or the best one they could under the circumstances. It was pretty obvious that Wallace slowed to let his de facto teammate by. He may have tried to claim otherwise, but from the replays (especially the in car) it was pretty obvious Bell steered toward the wall and floored it when he got there. And it did appear the 1 and 3 probably weren’t trying as hard as they could to pass Byron. Of the five drivers, Byron was the only one who can’t be accused of doing something wrong. Wallace, Chastain and Dillon all appeared to manipulate the finish to benefit someone else, and Bell appeared to break the rule about riding the wall, but all Byron did was try his best to hold his position. An argument could even be made that Dillon and Chastain didn’t do anything wrong. There’s always been the unwritten rule that at the end of the year you don’t do anything to wreck or intentionally effect a championship contenders race. Unless it’s retaliation, no one wants to do something to keep a contending driver from advancing.

I’m not a Hendrick, Byron or 24 car fan either. I respect what Hendrick has accomplished in business and racing, but the only driver I root for is Erik Jones because I was friends with his late father. Byron may have benefited from someone else breaking the rules, but he didn’t break any himself.

Jeff H

I agree with get rid of these “playoffs”. Make it season points. Want to make the end more interesting give winner more points for the final 10 races. As far as this season DQ 1, 3, 23 for this race and suspend each for Phoenix. Bell and Byron do not get in on points, just have it with the final three. Neither are deserving of a title chance this season.

Echo

What did Byron do wrong !! Love to hear your reasoning for him being excluded.

old fan

The same reason that Truex got thrown out of the playoffs when Bowyer’s arm itched at Richmond.

Echo

Wrong answer. Bowyer and Truex were teammates. Huge difference since the two drivers behind Byron were not teammates.

old fan

It doesn’t matter, they were all Chevy drivers and Chastain and Dillon were basically given “orders” not to pass Byron.

Charlie

This is a major problem for NASCAR. And it needs a hammer-like solution. All three drivers should be suspended for 10 races, beginning in 2025. Same for the crew chiefs.
Next, whoever the Race Director is should be replaced. David Hoots would have never let that happen.
The fine should be $250,000.00 to each team. Why, it has to hurt. It would hurt Trackhouse and Childress. 2311, maybe not as much, but they are facing paying NASCAR’s legal bills when the suit is tossed, probably in April
Also, with the high amounts, a reduction in the penalties would still be severe.
I also would Call Jim Campbell from GM and whoever takes White’s place at Toyota and explain to them, while its participation is needed, stop it.
With the legalization of gambling and NASCAR and various facilities signing on gaming contracts, this could get serious quickly.
I know you keyboard crunchers who are passionate about one driver or the other may take issue, aka “got a Hendrick car in,” or “they will not touch Toyota,” here come the tin foil hats and black helicopters. It’s a new day.

DoninAjax

I wonder what TOYOTA thinks this morning? All that money…It could have been two FORDS and two Toys! Somewhere Brian is dealing with another hangover.

Bob

I love the Bell whiners. He didn’t have to do that, Wallace slowed and pulled out of the way to let him go by. He is so ignorant he had no idea the race was televised and everyone could see what he did. The only way to correct all the sketchy things happened is to add more cars to the “chase” Like NFL, NHL, MLB.

John

What Bell did was not what Chastain did. Bell belongs in, period. Byron only got in because the 1 and the 3 blocked for him for several laps–Chevy orders. That’s supposed to be illegal, too, but it was for a Hedrick car. That makes it ok, apparently. NASCAR doesn’t have the guts to dump Byron for the blocking.

Eliminate the problems by getting rid of the entire chase thing. This year is a fiasco.

Bill W.

If in fact,both cheated,then take both out of the final race and let the other 3 run for the championship.If the 24 is in then just give the trophy to Hendrick and forget running the race next weekend.Money talks!

MikeinAZ

It was obvious who NASCHEVY would side with on this one. They couldn’t bring themselves to socking it to their beloved team owner (Hendrick) and Chevy again. Plus, they couldn’t have a championship race without Chevy being represented, which would have been the case if they sided with Bell.

Echo

4 penalties tomorrow, Byron is the only one that no reason to penalize him. Austin Dillon just proved to the world that’s he’s dumber than we all thought. I bet Richard got beat red in anger when he heard that on the radio. I also bet that Kyle Busch and Samantha laughed so hard after they got home last night. Richard is paying him another 16.9million again next year.

DoninAjax

What were Bubba’s times for say the last ten laps? How much time did Bell gain to catch and pass Bubba?