Bubba Wallace Accused Of Race Manipulation, Faking A Flat Tire At Martinsville To Help Fellow Toyota Team

Is it 2013 Richmond all over again? If you've been following NASCAR for long enough you no doubt remember Spingate during the 2013 Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond. It was the final race before the playoffs, and going into the final laps Martin Truex Jr. was on the outside looking in. But with four laps to go, his then-Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Clint Bowyer spun out in a bizarre incident, which allowed Truex to race his way into the playoffs. NASCAR took a look at Bowyer's actions and determined that he had intentionally spun out to help his teammate and manipulate the results of the race, and took the unprecedented step of adding an extra team to the playoffs after Jeff Gordon was eliminated by the move from Bowyer. Michael Waltrip Racing was also hit with severe penalties that ultimately led to the team losing longtime sponsor NAPA and eventually closing up shop just a year or so later. It was one of the biggest controversies in NASCAR history - and it may have just repeated itself this weekend. Yesterday's Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway was the final race before the championship next weekend. Going into Sunday, two drivers were locked into the final round of the playoffs, with Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick having secured their spot in the final four. But the remaining drivers were racing to either get in by winning the race or racing their way in on points. Ryan Blaney, who was in a must-win situation to advance to the final round and attempt to defend his 2023 Cup Series championship, scored a major walk-off victory and will once again compete for a championship at Phoenix. But the fourth spot in the playoffs is now surrounded by some major controversy. Christopher Bell and William Byron competing for the final playoff spot in the closing laps of the race. Byron was ahead of Bell by one single point based on where they were running on the track, and with Bell holding the tiebreaker, that meant that he needed to only gain one position (or needed Byron to lose one position) in order to secure his spot in the final four. As the laps were winding down, Byron in his Hendrick Motorsports #24 car was followed closely by fellow Chevrolet drivers Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain, who drive for different teams but compete for the same car manufacturer. Dillon and Chastain ran side beside behind Byron, leading many to believe they were blocking for the #24 in order to ensure that a fellow Chevy driver advanced in the playoffs. And their radio communication definitely sounded a little suspicious, with both Dillon and Chastain's spotters informing their driver that Byron was currently in the playoffs by only one point: https://twitter.com/MrMatthew_CFB/status/1853207833669480860 With Dillon and Chastain seemingly running a blockade for their fellow Chevy driver, it looked like Bell and his #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota would be left out of the championship race - until he may have gotten some help from a fellow Toyota driver. Bubba Wallace, who drives the #23 Toyota for 23XI Racing, slowed down considerably on the last lap after being told that Bell was out of the playoffs. He then radioed to his team that he had a tire going down, and slipped up the track to allow Bell to get around him - and gain the crucial point that he needed to advance to the final round. https://twitter.com/NASCARonNBC/status/1853205202477654039 But as Bell got by Bubba, he rode his car all the way around the wall in turn 4, a move that some compared to Ross Chastain's "Hail Melon" wall ride from a couple years ago - a move that has since been banned by NASCAR. After taking a look at the finish, NASCAR ruled that Bell riding the wall was a safety violation, and dropped him back to 22nd in the finishing order. This locked Byron into the playoffs, and left Bell on the outside looking in. NASCAR has announced, though, that they're looking at the other incidents of "race manipulation" that occurred on the closing laps, including Wallace and his "flat tire," and Dillon and Chastain blocking for Byron. Elton Sawyer, the NASCAR Senior VP of Competition, said the series would be looking into audio from the race teams as well as data from the cars to determine if further penalties should be handed out: “We’ll look at everything. As I said earlier, we want to go back, as we would have done anyway. 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.” If history is any indication, the penalties for race manipulation could end up being massive for Wallace and 23XI Racing, as well as Dillon's Richard Childress Racing team and Chastain's Trackhouse Racing team. It seems that Wallace's may be most egregious if it's determined that he slowed down or faked a flat tire in order to allow Bell to pass him. That seems more similar to Bowyer's actions at Richmond back in 2013 than Chastain and Dillon simply refusing to pass Byron. But either way, the championship race next weekend is going to be marred by controversy over who should be competing for a championship at all. Should both Bell and Byron be disqualified and 6th place Kyle Larson be added instead? Should there only be 3 cars in the final round since the others seemingly had help from their manufacturers? Should both Bell and Byron get the chance to compete for the championship? It's a big mess, and it's a direct result of the championship format that NASCAR has implemented in an attempt to create drama surrounding their playoffs. I don't think this is the kind of drama they were hoping for though.