By David Morgan, Associate Editor
The final laps of Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway were full of drama, centered on two drivers battling it out for the final transfer spot into the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4.
William Byron was fading fast, trying to hold off the drivers behind him in order to maintain his place inside the top four of the standings, while Christopher Bell was mired back in the pack, just hoping to have a chance to steal that position away.
Byron would be followed by two fellow Chevrolet drivers in Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain over the course of those final laps, neither of which dared to pass Byron and instead elected to play defense for the betterment of their Bowtie brethren.
Meanwhile, Bell found himself a wingman in Bubba Wallace, another Toyota driver, who dropped a number of positions over the course of the final laps, which allowed Bell to catch up to him as they headed into Turn 3 for the final time.
Bell blasted past Wallace in Turn 3 to pull even with Byron in the points, but his momentum carried him into the outside wall and in a move reminiscent of Chastain’s Hail Melon at Martinsville two years ago, Bell kept his foot in the gas and powered his way to the finish line, seemingly having pulled off a miracle and claimed a spot in the title race.
Not so fast.
With both drivers tied in the points and the tie going to Bell, both drivers pulled down pit road as the decision went to NASCAR to decide whether Bell’s move would be allowed to stand or whether Byron would get the nod into the Championship 4.
The sanctioning body had many factors to weigh, including the apparent manipulation from both Chevrolet and Toyota to get their respective drivers to Phoenix, as well as the move by Bell himself.
Byron explained during the wait on NASCAR’s decision that he didn’t think Bell’s move should stand as there was a rule against it.
“I mean, he rode the wall and there’s a clear rule against riding the wall. In my eyes, that’s what counts,” Byron said. “The 23 stuff is what it is. There was a lot going on there.”
Bell likewise laid out his case as to why the move should stand and he should be the one moving on.
“I knew I had to get past the 23, and got really loose, got really loose getting into turn 3. Once I got in the marbles, I was in the wall,” Bell said.
“I had no intention of riding the wall. That’s unfortunately where I ended up trying to get all I could get.
“Yeah, I don’t know. This is weird. This is weird. Everyone is standing around. Nobody knows what’s going on. I don’t know if this is the last interview I’m going to have of the day.
“Regardless, I’m super proud of this 20 group. No matter what happens, if we make it, don’t make it, it’s been so much fun this year, contending for wins, lead more laps. We set out a goal this year to lead more laps, finish stages, we did that. We came in, didn’t have the prettiest day, but we tied the points. I guess it’s going to be a decision outside of us that’s going to let us know if we made it or not.”
After nearly a half-hour of deliberation by NASCAR brass, the decision was in. Bell’s move was indeed ruled illegal, dropping him to 22nd place, the last car one lap down, which also dropped him out of the tie with Byron to four points back when all was said and done.
Byron now heads to Phoenix for the second year in a row as he looks to bank his first Cup Series championship.
“I’ve never been a part of anything like this, so I don’t really know how to feel,” Byron said.
“I hate it for everyone involved, but I’m happy for this No. 24 Liberty University Chevy team. I’m happy for us moving on, and we’ll go on and focus on Phoenix…
“I’ll think about this one here at Martinsville with my team. We had a lot of adversity through the second half of the race there. Yeah, I mean we know what the rules are, right? So it is what it is. I wouldn’t say I’m happy, but I’m excited to race for a championship, that’s for sure.”
Meanwhile, Bell and the entire Joe Gibbs Racing organization is left wondering what more they could have done to secure those vital points that would have allowed Bell to transfer through after entering the day with a 29-point advantage over the cut-off line.
To his credit, Bell took the decision in stride as he congratulated Byron on making it through, giving him a handshake and a fist bump with well wishes for next week’s championship race
“It was Martinsville, and it was a round of 8 cutoff race. Unfortunately, I was on the bad side of it. Made a lot of mistakes, ran a sloppy race. It is a shame that it comes down to a ball and strike call like that,” Bell said of the decision.
“You can look at both sides of the fence – the Chevy organization had a lot of blocking going on so that the 24 (William Bryon) didn’t lose positions. I slid into the wall and kept my foot into it. I guess that is a losing move.”
NASCAR Weighs In on the Decision
In what has become a common occurrence at the end of a NASCAR race, officials from the sanctioning body were left to explain their decision making on why certain calls were made.
This time, it was NASCAR senior vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer laying out the case for why Byron got the nod over Bell.
“Obviously we look at all the video. As I back up on that, you go back two years ago when we had the situation with Ross here. We went to Phoenix.
“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. We were able to get through Phoenix and had a great championship race that year.
“In the off-season meeting with the industry, meeting with our drivers, and to a man that was not a move that they want to have to make. There was language in the rule back. When you look at it today, clearly got up against the fence there in three and four, and rode the fence all the way off four there.
“Strictly it’s to protect our drivers as well as our fans. So yeah, it was pretty straightforward.”
Sawyer added that the sanctioning body was only focused on Bell’s move when making their decision and did not take the actions of each manufacturer into account.
“If you look at the other situations that were going, 23, the cars behind the 24, really no bearing at this time. We’ll look at those at a later time,” Sawyer said.
“When you really just dissect exactly what happened, look at the situation with the 20 getting up against the fence, then riding the fence, which we clearly stated in our statement after Ross did that, that that would not be accepted.”
Sawyer noted that they would be looking at the other factors later in the week to determine whether any additional penalties would be needed, as they do each and ever week.
As to why JGR officials were unsuccessful in making their case to try and overturn NASCAR’s ruling afterwards, Sawyer had an answer for that too.
“It’s a race violation. Race violation, you don’t protest them. It’s not appealable, I should say. No different than an uncontrolled tire or too many men over the wall or anything like that.”
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