Photo Courtesy of: NASCAR XFINITY Series
By: Cathy Brown
Twitter: @TheCathyBrown@PitOutsideBox
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MARTINSVILLE, Va. – The NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Cup Series Championship four have been set, but not without controversy.
On Saturday, it was Ty Gibbs taking out his teammate Brandon Jones (who need a win to advance into the Championship 4) and on Sunday drivers Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe were all in the same position – a win and you’re in.
The NCS XFINITY 500 started off pretty tame, with Chase Elliott leading most of the first segment and with nine laps to go, Hamlin passed Elliott and went on to win Stage No. 1.
Briscoe would suffer a blow, when he was penalized for removing the gas can during his pit stop, placing him at the rear of the field.
Hamlin would be on point for the start of the second segment and it appeared the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Fed Ex Freight Toyota would easily make it into the season finale contending for a championship.
During the final stage, Ross Chastain got into Brad Keselwoski, Chastain would have to bring his car to pit road and from that point on Keselowski made it “very hard” for the driver of the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing driver to get back to the front.
The caution flag would fly, bringing all the leaders to pit road – Hamlin having a slow stop lost spots on pit road and it would be Bell taking the top spot as Hamlin struggled to get back to lead.
Yellow flags would be the order of the day for the remaining laps, Bell and Briscoe were now the dominant cars and it looked like the final spot would be decided amongst the two.
With 34 laps to go the caution was out again and with a bold decision Brsicoe decided to stay out, placing his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford out-front.
With 24 to go, Briscoe did his best to hold off the field – but on newer tires it was Bell taking his No. 20 to victory lane and earning the final spot to contend for a championship next weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
The controversary at the end of the race has fans and social media still buzzing. Chastain in a “checkers or wreckers” moment on the final lap pointed his car at the turn four wall and gassed it.
Rim riding the wall at top speed he held onto to it and passed Hamlin by inches maintaining his place in the points and advancing him to the championship round.
Chastain ran an 18.48 second lap, which itself was insane as the move he just made.
Next came the comments from the drivers, most offering praise and some quick to point out just how dangerous that move could have been.
Here’s what some of the drivers had to say:
From Blaney – “I just saw it and I guess I wish I should have done it. I guess we’ll all start doing it now coming down to the end of the race.”
On whether it was good or bad: “I don’t care. That’s for you all to say.”
From Briscoe:
“I wish I would have done it the last eight laps. I would have won the race. I knew he was almost a point out I thought I heard them say, so I knew down the backstretch he was probably about seven car lengths back from me I knew I was probably gonna get drove through, so I was watching my mirror and I saw how fast he was coming and I gripped the wheel because I thought this is gonna hurt pretty bad, and then luckily I saw him go to the wall. It was well-executed on his part. I think all of us have thought about that, just none of us have ever been brave enough to ever try it. I’m very curious to see what kind of hole that opens up because I think now if it’s the last lap at Martinsville and maybe even Richmond, just go wide-open on the wall. I think you’ll see the whole field do it. I mean, it’s that big of an advantage, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens now because now that we all know it’s that big of an advantage, I mean, at the end if you’re running second or third even you’re gonna do that because you’re gonna win the race. I’m curious to see what plays out after that.”
From Hamlin, who was knocked out of the championship by Chastain’s move:
“Certainly. We’re trying to battle. Obviously, I was trying to get in there. But it’s racing. It’s what racing is here as Martinsville. Actually pretty happy with somewhat how clean it was there towards the end, as crazy was it was with guys on different tires. Can’t say enough for my team to give us a shot. We were in 20s for most of the season in our points because of our up-and-down execution. We’re going to end up fifth in points. That is what it is. Great move. Brilliant. Certainly a great move. When you have no other choice, it certainly is easy to do that. But well executed.”
And finally, from the man himself, Chastain:
“I don’t know what you want to call it. I’m proud that we had a chance. That’s all that we ask for. Like I said, it was the combination of the last few weeks and the previous 34 races to get us here. That’s all we ask for.
Yeah, I took a crazy move that nobody would have ever thought. When I committed, I had no idea if it would work. With the access gate off turn four, I didn’t know if it would catch me and stop me. But I knew that I would try and it wasn’t going to hurt us.”
“I’m over the moon excited. This is a life accomplishment, a career accomplishment, for everybody at Trackhouse Racing, Justin Marks and Pitbull and the vision of this team. For our partners that came on board – Worldwide Express, Moose Fraternity, Jockey, AdventHealth and Kubota. All we asked for was a chance.”
Drivers like Logano and others have suggested that NASCAR step in and make a decision on whether moves like that in the future should be legal and if a driver who makes a move like that should not be credited with gaining spots on the track.
From Kyle Larson: “That’s not a good look for our sport. Maybe you guys think it’s cool. I think it’s embarrassing.”
NASCAR has stated “the move was within the bounds of the rule book and will discuss any driver concerns this week.
So how does this sit with the fans? Though the move was legal – here’s my thoughts.
What Ross Chastain did was brilliant, but it could be a “one off”, he’s shown his cards and now everyone out there is aware of what he “would” do to win a race, make the NASCAR Playoffs or win a NASCAR Championship
Translation, “The fool me twice” more than likely will not apply.
Let us know your thoughts, we know you have them – so lets hear them!
Pitting Outside the Box 