NASCAR officials will look further into the on-track actions of multiple competitors Sunday night in the NASCAR Cup Series‘ Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.
The No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet piloted by Ross Chastain, the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon and the No. 23 Toyota of 23XI Racing wheeled by Bubba Wallace all fall under scrutiny for how they raced in the closing laps of Sunday‘s Xfinity 500.
NASCAR‘s senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said Sunday the officials‘ immediate focus in the moment centered around Christopher Bell‘s wall ride in the final corner, but said he anticipated a deeper examination lied ahead once clear of Sunday‘s event.
“We’ll look at everything,” Sawyer said. “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.”
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In the late stages of the 500-lap race, William Byron‘s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet faded quickly from the front of the field after leading 51 circuits. Every spot lost dropped Byron closer to the elimination line until he settled in sixth place on the track, just one point ahead of Christopher Bell in the provisional playoff standings and in position to advance to the Championship 4. Bell was running in 19th place, the first car one lap down.
Behind Byron, the Chevrolets of Chastain and Dillon effectively created a blockade, both running side-by-side and not passing Byron over the final 10 laps. Those passes would have dropped Byron out of the Championship 4.
Elsewhere on track, Wallace‘s No. 23 Toyota slowed significantly over the final five laps, eventually getting lapped by race leader Ryan Blaney. On the final lap, Bell surged past the slowing Wallace entering Turn 3, slid through the rubber marbles on the track and rode his car along the outside retaining wall coming to the checkered flag.
Bell crossed the finish line 18th, tying Byron for the final Champ 4 position and provisionally advancing on a tiebreaker. But after a review, officials penalized Bell for the wall ride, deeming it a safety violation and moving Bell to the final car one lap down, resulting in a 22nd-place finish for Bell and allowing Byron advancement instead.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action in its Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock).
