Okay everyone. First, let’s all take a deep breath. Now, pull up a comfy chair, crack open your favorite beverage and let’s talk about the end of Sunday’s (Nov. 3) race at Martinsville Speedway.
At least there is no doubt about Ryan Blaney’s victory. Blaney drove to the lead with 15 laps to go and secured his passage to the Championship 4 for the second year in a row, joining Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick.
The fourth and final spot in the championship race took much longer to decide. With Blaney cruising to victory, William Byron was poised to be the only driver who would advance on points. He had a small cushion over Christopher Bell, who was the first driver one lap down and could not pick up any additional positions.
However, Byron was sliding back through the field on old tires and his small points advantage over Bell was starting to shrink.
That brings us to the final laps of the race when a couple of curious things happened. First, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain caught Byron and rode behind him double-wide for several laps. Had either driver passed the No. 24, Byron and Bell would have been tied on points with Bell taking the tiebreaker. This meant that there would have been no Chevrolets in the final round of the playoffs. Byron, Chastain, and Dillon all drive Chevrolets.
Curious.
With Dillon and Chastain sitting behind Byron, it looked like Bell was out of time and out of options. But on the last lap, Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota slowed dramatically down the backstretch. Bell, also in a Toyota, passed Wallace and drove deep into turn 3, bumping into the outside wall. Once there, Bell hit the gas in turn 4 and raced back to the finish line. Having stayed ahead of the No. 23, Bell and Byron ended the race tied on points.
But the Championship 4 still was not settled. Bell’s last-lap move was similar to Chastain’s Hail Melon maneuver from two years ago, a wall-riding move that NASCAR has since disallowed for safety concerns. Furthermore, radio communications from the Nos. 1, 3 and 23 teams revealed that everyone was well aware of how close the points situation was between Bell and Byron. It was an absolute mess of a finish and for more than 20 minutes after the checkered flag fell, nobody knew who the Championship 4 drivers would be.
The final call from NASCAR was that Bell violated the rule against riding the wall. The actual penalty was to not count Bell’s final lap, dropping him to 22nd in the final finishing order and giving the last transfer spot to Byron. Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin were eliminated from the playoffs along with Bell.
So here we are, in the final week of the NASCAR season, and all the chatter is about the controversy at Martinsville. Some fans are mad at the Chevy drivers for apparently colluding to help Byron. Other fans are upset that Bell was penalized for his last-lap move. While those feelings are all understandable, neither Byron, Bell, Hendrick Motorsports nor Joe Gibbs Racing are the ones really at fault for this mess. The fault lies entirely with NASCAR and the awful playoff format that the leaders of this sport continue to support, despite its complete failure.
Sunday’s race is a perfect example of why adding multiple points resets and formal eliminations into the postseason is a terrible idea. In the original 10-race Chase, drivers fell out of title contention naturally throughout the postseason. There were no pre-determined races that would cut the playoff field and bring an immediate end to several drivers’ title hopes. Now, with the elimination-style playoffs, every competitor knows exactly when drivers will be eliminated and the points will be reset. The certainty of elimination invites situations like what we saw on Sunday. Teams will naturally make plans among themselves, and their manufacturer allies, to stay in the game. As long as the playoffs exist in this format, NASCAR cannot legislate race manipulation out of existence.
Furthermore, this is the second time this postseason when one driver was eliminated, and another driver was put back into the playoffs, due to a NASCAR ruling and not on-track competition. The first instance was Alex Bowman’s disqualification at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, which put Logano back into the playoffs after he was seemingly knocked out. Yes, Bowman and the No. 48 team broke an established rule, but the idea that NASCAR can put eliminated drivers back into the playoffs makes the system look like a joke.
NASCAR’s post-race ruling after Martinsville is even worse. The reason that Byron will compete for a title this week and Bell will not came down to the technical definition of what constitutes riding the wall. It was a judgment call that realistically could have gone either way. Although Bell accelerated while leaning against the wall in turn 4, he definitively did not drive into turn 3 the same way Chastain did two years ago. Bell’s explanation that he drove into the corner too deep and got loose is plausible and, the way the race ended, he should have advanced. Instead, Bell is eliminated from winning the championship due to a judgment call that NASCAR made, which only existed because of circumstances that the sanctioning body itself created.Â
NASCAR will have a big mess on its hands if Byron or Logano wins the title. Byron is only championship eligible due to NASCAR’s ruling against Bell and the double-wide block from Chastain and Dillon (a maneuver that the sanctioning body is admittedly still investigating.) Logano was only in the Round of 8 to begin with due to Bowman’s disqualification.
While the No. 22 team won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the next week, it should be noted that Blaney pushed Logano during the closing laps to help him save fuel and preserve his lead. Pushing is not against the rules, but it gave Logano a significant advantage and could be considered by some to be race manipulation. Either Byron or Logano winning the championship at this point would be fundamentally wrong.
Resetting points during the playoffs has always been a bad call. Each time the points reset, the standings become a less accurate picture of how each driver has performed relative to the competition over the season. Championships should be about rewarding each year’s best driver, but the playoffs do not fulfill this obligation.
They do not reward consistently strong performances if wins allow you to advance through each round, regardless of other finishes. But the playoffs do not reward winning either. Larson is a six-time winner in 2024, and nobody else has more than three wins. Larson was eliminated at Martinsville.
The problem is that, along with the issues described above, NASCAR does not have the capability to officiate the playoffs fairly. It is certainly not a new problem; controversies of race manipulation have haunted the elimination-style playoffs since their inception. But Sunday’s race encapsulated NASCAR’s incompetency more than any other race has in several years. It was clear that the sanctioning body had no idea what to do in the immediate aftermath of the race.
The decision to penalize Bell for wall riding, even when his move was not a definitive wall ride, raises a lot of questions. It also remains to be seen how NASCAR responds to the radio communications of Dillon’s, Chastain’s, and Wallace’s teams. It all made for a frustrating ending to what was likely the best Martinsville race of the Next Gen era.
On Sunday afternoon, NASCAR will crown a NASCAR Cup Series champion at Phoenix Raceway, and it will do so under a cloud of controversy. Even if Blaney or Reddick wins the title, their triumph will be overshadowed by the embarrassment that NASCAR caused itself during the 2024 postseason. What should be a celebration for the winning team and a sendoff of a season that has featured many good races will be tainted by the effects of the postseason. Martinsville is the latest in a long line of races that proves the playoffs are rotting NASCAR from within and destroying the authenticity of the sport that so many of us love.
Okay, now I need a deep breath.
About the author
Bryan began writing for Frontstretch in 2016. He has penned Up to Speed for the past seven years. A lifelong student of auto racing, Bryan is a published author and automotive historian. He is a native of Columbus, Ohio and currently resides in Southern Kentucky.
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A deep breath for sure. 3 huge penalties and a smaller one for Bell. Byron did nothing wrong. Radio communication for the 1 & 3 shows exactly what everyone but paw paw knows about Austin Dillon, he’s an idiot. And bubba said among other things on the radio he thought he had a tire going down. But during his pit road live interview he said something broke as his eyes darted everywhere except to the camera. Bubba is a terrible liar, not smart enough to think quick that’s for sure. But on the bright side, Denny is done. Unless Nascar makes a couple more judgement calls before tomorrow evening.
There’s no reason to judge anyone’s body language or start a conspiracy. There’s lots of possible reasons for a person’s eyes to move that have nothing to do with lying. For instance there’s a lot of people and lights moving around him and it’s tough to focus on anything. He probably also had no desire to even talk to the media because he just had a very bad race. Also it’s possible Bubba thought he had a tire going down, but then when he got out of his car and saw all his tires were up he realized it must have been something else.
I remember the Jeff Gordon fans loving it when Brian allowed him into the playoffs. Cheers and no pearl clutching. My how times have changed. The “playoffs” always has had controversy. But this one allowing a lone Chevy into the fold begs the obvious. NASCAR WANTED a Chevy in the Final 4 and they got it. Integrity is non existent, and there in lies the problem.
I am no fan of JGR, but I do believe CB DID NOT PULL a Hail Melon. NASCARS excuse for eliminating CB is comical and embarrassing.
As for RB pushing JL, greatly exagerrated as to what I saw last few laps. And RB got pissed when that was suggested, no fan of RB, but I agree with him. Joey was near nobody including Ryan, he was car lenghts behind. The pot must be stirred.
When Clint Bowyer spun at Richmond to ensure Truex Jr got into the “playoffs”, it effectively killed MWR. But Saint Gordon was given the 13th spot, which didn’t exist. Until it did. It’s all a by-product of Brian France’s Folly.
Christopher Bell rode along the wall when NASCAR has an explicit no-wall-riding rule. They have enforced it in a way that requires no comparison to what Ross Chastain did. They don’t have to judge intent or the number of positions gained or lost.
Such idiocy, having a “playoff” where every competitor is still on the track for every race.
Meh, it’s a race within a race. I’d honestly be fine with it if NASCAR wasn’t calling the eventual winner the series champion. Like next year they’re doing an in-season tournament. I think that could be fun.
When a driver with 6 wins is not eligible for the championship race because of a problem with a Next Gen car single lug nut issue, the 2024championship race will be a hollow joke, and I won’t watch it. NASCAR desperately needs to fix its playoff format and its Next Gen car issues.
Larson left points on the table by skipping the Coke 600. He also got a waiver from NASCAR from breaking the rule to start every race. Then he left more points on the table, and probably a win too, by trying something stupid at Homestead and wrecking himself. Larson had plenty of chances to cover for these mistakes but didn’t perform. Oh well.
Thank you, Marshall, for reminding me of how Kyle Larson’s Indy 500/Coke 600 debacle negatively impacted his 2024 season. Today, after the NASCAR fines and penalties have come down, I question how much integrity the sport of NASCAR has. I even dare to wonder if not just the manufacturers but somehow NASCAR itself may have manipulated Martinsville to get a Chevy into the Championship race. What a mess!
Why not just say NA$CAR rules that the driver with the most wins gets the championship! That makes as much sense as MLB’s championship going to the team with the most wins. The NFL team with the most wins gets the Super Bowl trophy. The NHL gives the Stanley Cup to the team with the most wins. In case of ties the trophy is shared.
There is no comparison of Bell’s and Chastain’s actions. Ross deliberately drove along the wall to pass people, through the 3 and 4. You can see Christopher slip and slide up into the wall and rub it for a short distance. Because he didn’t wreck, and it was the last lap, he was penalized.
NASCAR made the rule a safety violation. It’s not about how many spots you gain or lose. Bell might not have intentionally hit the wall but he didn’t really try to slow down and get off it either. NASCAR should not be trying to differentiate between intentional and unintentional wall riding, because it doesn’t matter- doing it on accident isn’t any less safe than doing it on purpose.
Get rid of the playoffs and all this stuff goes away.
Simple, ain’t it?
Tell that to Brian’s sycophants that are continuing his brilliant ideas on how to improve his inherited toy. After all, he decided the Latford POINTS system was too hard for the fans to understand and wanted to take “a good points day” out of the driver’s vocabulary. The new POINTS system is so much less complicated for the fans to understand, isn’t it?
Winning car gets 40 points, the next gets 39, and so on.
Maybe five extra to the winner.
Get rid of the stages, too.
The cream will still rise to the top, won’t it?
All they had to do with the Latford system was give the winner more points. Instead of 175 maybe 225. If a driver won 4 actual races it would mean an extra 200 points and that would be hard to catch.
I wish I could give about 1000 thumbs up to this post because its exactly how I have felt all along. People have been saying it for years so its nothing new but the powers that be still think this playoff garbage is better. I’m glad its coming back to bite them in the arse.
“but the idea that NASCAR can put eliminated drivers back into the playoffs makes the system look like a joke.”
NASCAR didn’t put anyone back into the playoffs after Charlotte. By DQ’ing Bowman, it was the same as if he wrecked early and finished last. That means Logano had enough points to advance on his own.
Team Orders and race manipulation has gone on during the Winston Cup era too. How many times has an owner fielded an extra car to help the leading car earn enough points? Same kind of thing.