NASCAR Expected to “Drop the Hammer” with Penalties for Sunday’s Race Shenanigans

Typically you can count on the Monday callers on Sirius/XM’s NASCAR radio channel to provide the rabid fan perspective on Sunday’s race, and this week was no exception. “It’s a black eye for the sport,” said one. “NASCAR has to do something,” said another.

It was an opinion shared by the hosts. “NASCAR needs to drop the hammer,” said Larry McReynolds, former championship crew chief.

What were they talking about? Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at the venerable half-mile oval in Martinsville, Virginia. Martinsville was the final “cutoff” race, narrowing the eligible field from eight to four drivers who still have a chance to win the season championship at Phoenix this weekend.

It’s agreed upon by almost everyone that it was an exciting race—up to the last 20 laps or so. Then… well, shenanigans.

First, let’s cover what happened last. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, trying to be the fourth of the four to advance, slid up to the wall in turn four of the last lap. Unable to steer off the wall and maintain his momentum, Bell rode the wall to the finish line, just like Ross Chastain did two years ago when he gunned his engine, steered toward the wall, and used the wall to maintain his momentum through turns three and four, to the checkered flag. NASCAR had never seen anything quite like it, and let Chastain keep his finishing position, warning drivers to never do it again, ostensibly for safety reasons.

But Bell did—he sort of had to—and NASCAR penalized him multiple spots, enough to take him out of the championship hunt. Some fans didn’t like that call; others agreed with NASCAR, which took nearly a half-hour after the race to announce Bell’s penalty, and that it was not appealable.

The much more egregious aspect of Sunday’s race began earlier. Two drivers were locked in because of previous wins—Joey Logano in a Penske Ford, and Tyler Reddick in the 23XI Toyota. That left two spots: One for the winner, if he was eligible, and one on overall finishing position.

Penske’s Ryan Blaney, the current champ, won the race handily, and advanced to the final round. This left the fourth and final spot, which was going to be either Toyota’s Bell or the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver, William Byron. Had Bell been allowed to keep his finish, it would have locked out all four of the Hendrick cars, and meant there would be no Chevrolets in the final four, leaving the manufacturer with no chance to win it all this Sunday.

So Richard Childress Chevrolet driver Austin Dillon, and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain, also in a Chevrolet, blatantly threw a block behind Byron, refusing to pass him even though Byron had slowed. Passing him would have dropped him in the standings to the point where he’d be out of the hunt, and there would be no Chevys. This was bad enough, but their crew chiefs and spotters openly talked about the plan on the team radios.

Similarly, there’s radio evidence that Bubba Wallace, driving the 23XI Toyota, abruptly slowed for the final five laps to allow Bell to catch up and pass him. Which, of course, was for naught because of the wall-riding penalty.

Bottom line: When opposing teams who happen to be driving for the same manufacturer gang up, rather than race against each other, it violates the NASCAR rulebook, which may gain a page or two after last weekend. As it stands now, the final four are Byron, Blaney, Reddick and Logano. But NASCAR is reviewing the radio transmissions and the video, and most everyone expects possibly crushing penalties to be delivered Wednesday or Thursday. Byron and Bell (until he rode the wall) did nothing wrong, but they benefitted by the actions of marque-mates. Will Bell and Byron be punished? It’s unlikely, but we’ll see.

After the race, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer said, “We’ll look at everything. We’ll get back, we’ll take all the data, video. We’ll listen to in-car audio. We’ll do all that, as we would any event.” NASCAR has something called the “100 percent rule,” specifying that drivers must give 100 percent as they race. Wallace, Dillon and Chastain were giving considerably less than that. NASCAR must also decide if pressure from Chevrolet and Toyota entered into the picture.

Meanwhile, the NASCAR Radio fan drumbeat went on Tuesday, too. “I’m ashamed,” said one caller. Said another: “If Chevrolet did this, I’m buying a Ford.”