NASCAR Issues Massive Penalties To Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon & Ross Chastain For Race Manipulation At Martinsville

Bringing the hammer down. NASCAR has finished their investigation into the "race manipulation" controversy surrounding the finish of the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville this past weekend, and issued massive penalties to the teams of Cup Series teams of Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain. The whole mess came during the closing laps of the race, the final race before the championship next weekend at Phoenix. 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 6 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 ended up surrounded by some major controversy. Christopher Bell and William Byron were 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 Chevrolet was followed closely by fellow Chevy 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 and asking if they "knew the deal." Take a listen: 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. And not it's not just Bell who's in hot water. This evening, NASCAR announced that the crew chief, spotter and competition director for Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain will be suspended for the season finale this weekend at Phoenix. Additionally, each driver has been penalized 50 points and the teams have each been fined $100k. https://twitter.com/bobpockrass/status/1853935547875721575 NASCAR VP of Competition Elton Sawyer said that they discussed suspending the drivers, and that the series may consider that in the future if anything like this happens again. All three teams have announced they plan on appealing the penalties, and with this weekend being the final race, the appeals are expected to be heard this week.