MARTINSVILLE, Va: After a brutal afternoon at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, it appeared that a last-lap effort paid off for Christopher Bell and Joe Gibbs Racing to send the team back to the Championship 4 at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway for a second consecutive season.
However, a post-race penalty, in which NASCAR critiqued Bell’s last lap at the 0.526-mile paperclip, required a position penalty for an on-track safety violation that dropped him from 18th to 22nd and out of the Championship 4.
Bell mimicked a similar move to Ross Chastain, who utilized a “Hail Melon” pass two years ago and rode the wall from the entrance to Turn 4 to the start-finish line at the time that advanced his Trackhouse Racing team to Phoenix.
While the move initially floored the audience and was shown on television programs worldwide, NASCAR eventually outlawed the move in the interest of safety.
Some would argue that Bell’s move during Sunday’s penultimate NASCAR Cup Series race wasn’t the same as Chastain’s, but the frustration and immediate insight of the move showed similarities.
Twenty-seven minutes after the checkered flag was thrown when Ryan Blaney propelled his way back into Championship 4 with a gutless performance, NASCAR deemed the move illegal and ripped Bell, who was tied with Cup Series Playoff rival William Byron for the final spot in the Championship 4.
Bell held the tiebreaker over Byron with his runner-up performance last month at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway.
In all honesty, Bell should have never been in this position to begin with.
On Saturday, Bell’s No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry showcased the speed and handling that many thought would be enough to make him a potential candidate to win the Xfinity 500. Still, a series of mistakes throughout 500 grueling laps at Martinsville ultimately hindered the team’s opportunity to return to Championship 4.
Starting 16th on Sunday afternoon, Bell could not find the rhythm he demonstrated in practice.
Unable to move toward the top-10, Bell’s day got rocked when he spun with Corey LaJoie on Lap 57 in Turn 2. Bell did not suffer any damage in the incident; however, he lost all of his track position.
Bell would slowly work back toward the top 20, ultimately playing the strategy call during Stage 2 and electing to stay out when the fifth caution waved, bringing Bell into the top five.
Despite being on older tires, Bell survived through the end of Stage 2, finishing sixth overall and collecting four stage points.
It appeared that the ship had been righted for Bell and his Adam Stevens-led team heading into Stage 3, but at the Stage 2 break, Bell’s pit crew did not tighten the lug nut, forcing a second trip to pit road.
During the long green flag run to kick off Stage 3, Bell could not make up the ground on the race track and eventually fell off the lead lap.
Climbing back through the field, Bell briefly found himself in the free pass position, but as the race inched closer to its conclusion, the leaders caught the tail end of the field and put Bubba Wallace a lap down.
When Denny Hamlin passed William Bryon inside the final 15 laps of the race, Byron had a one-point advantage over Bell, but when Wallace radioed to his team that he felt like he had a tire going down, his lap times dropped considerably. By the last lap, Bell had caught the No. 23 Toyota entering Turn 3 and began his pass on the 23XI Racing driver and initiated the “Hail Melon” move, which NASCAR later docked Bell four positions to the tail end of the lead lap and a 22nd place finish.
“It was Martinsville, and it was a round of 8 cutoff race,” said Bell after the 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.
“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.”
Bell broke down the final corner, saying he wasn’t intentionally trying to ride the wall to the checkered flag, he said he slipped into the wall.
“Yeah, I just got loose,” Bell added. “I was trying to get by the 23 (Bubba Wallace) and whenever I did, I was kind of pinned in between the 10 (Noah Gragson) and the 23 and slid into the wall.
“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.
“Whenever I slid into the wall, I knew that I had to have that position and just tried to get to the line. I didn’t intentionally floor it and go into the fence; I slipped into the wall and that’s all she wrote.”
Bell heads to Phoenix Raceway next week with an opportunity to finish fifth in points.
Despite their setbacks on Sunday, Bell said he was still proud of his Joe Gibbs Racing team.
“Regardless, I’m super proud of this 20 group,” added Bell. “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 NASCAR’s penalty call, executives from Joe Gibbs Racing arrived at the NASCAR hauler to discuss the situation with series officials.
Approximately 15 minutes later, the team exited with minimal comments, but team owner Joe Gibbs Racing said that NASCAR informed that the team could not protest the decision.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s Senior Vice president of competition, later reiterated that in-race safety penalties. could not be protested.
“It’s a race violation,” Sawyer said. “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.”
Follow Chris Knight on X (Twitter) @Knighter01 or email at [email protected]. [table=4225][table=4226]
