NASCAR bans Chastain’s wall-hugging move at Martinsville

NASCAR has essentially banned the “Hail Melon” video-game move driver Ross Chastain used at Martinsville Speedway to race his way into the championship finale.

Chastain last year mashed the gas and deliberately smashed into the wall so that the energy would speed his car past his rivals. The move advanced him into NASCAR’s title-deciding final race on the final of the four spots, and was lauded by motorsports figures globally.

But his fellow NASCAR competitors thought Chastain’s trick was both dangerous and not in the spirit of fair competition. NASCAR on Tuesday said the wall-hugging, jaw-dropping pass Chastain made on the final lap will be a penalty in 2023.

“Not a new rule,” said Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s vice president of competition. “I think we all remember the last-lap move at Martinsville in the fall. Brought a great deal of excitement, a great deal of exposure to our sport. But it also came with some scrutiny.”

NASCAR cited rule 10.5.2.6.A, which states “any violations deemed to compromise the safety of an event or otherwise pose a dangerous risk to the safety of competitors, officials, spectators or others are treated with the highest degree of seriousness.”

Sawyer said there was internal discussion about needing to “do something,” but NASCAR waited until after the season to collaborate, study data and dig into the rulebook.

“This is not new language,” he said. “Basically if there’s an act that we feel that’s compromising the safety of our competitors, officials, spectators, we’re going to take that seriously. We will penalize for that act going forward. Basically it would be a lap or time penalty at the end of the race. That move at Martinsville would be a penalty in 2023.”

Chastain was on the verge of playoff elimination when he harkened to a racing move he used on GameCube with

his brother, Chad, as a kid. He plastered his car against the outside wall, let go of the steering wheel and pushed the pedal to the floor.

It worked just like it did in the video game. Suddenly, on the final half-lap at the Martinsville short track, Chastain’s car looked as if it was turned up to hyperspeed while everyone else was poking along.

Going at least 50 mph faster than everyone else, he passed five cars in a matter of seconds to claim the final spot in the title race.

He finished second to Joey Logano in the championship finale in Phoenix.

Other notable changes for NASCAR’s Cup Series in 2023:

— Losing a wheel will no longer be a four-race suspension to the crew chief and two crew members. It will be a two-race suspension for two crew members if it happens beyond pit road.

— There will no longer be stage breaks at road courses. NASCAR will still award points at the end of stages, only without the artificial caution.

— NASCAR will give teams seven minutes on pit road to work on their cars if they are damaged in an accident. It was six minutes last year before being increased to 10 minutes for the Cup playoffs.