NASCAR penalties could be issued to Bubba Wallace, Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon

We saw drama in the final playoff elimination race at Martinsville Speedway. The drama led to a lengthy 25 minute delay in the results after the race.

In the closing laps, Christopher Bell needed 1 point in order to advance into the championship round. He was in a battle with William Byron.

The No. 23 crew told their driver, “10 to go at the line. 5 back to the No. 11 then 10 to the No. 24. The No. 24 and 21 are separated by a point right now.”

Later the team added, “Three to go.”

 

Bubba Wallace quickly responded, “I think I got a tire going down.” The team responded, “10-4. Just nurse it. Nurse it home.”

On the final lap, Bell caught Wallace. He slid him into turn three and went all the way to the wall. When Bell got to the wall, he stepped on the gas.

Chastain rides wall at Martinsville; Passes 5 cars (Video)

Per the rules, cars are not allowed to ride the wall. After the lengthy review, they penalized Bell, putting him as the last car -1 lap.

After the penalty, Bell was removed from next week’s championship race. Byron will join Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick in the championship battle at Phoenix Raceway.

Brad Keselowski stated via X, “This should be the last straw on the camel’s back for the playoffs.”

Bubba Wallace is being investigated

Teams are not allowed to slow down just to let a teammate or an affiliated team gain a position. Penalties have been issued in the past for that very situation.

Over the team radio, Wallace stated he thought he had a tire going down. In post-race interviews, he noted that he thought something broke on the car.

After the race, NASCAR elected to tear down the No. 23 car driven by Bubba Wallace. This was likely to search for any broken part.

Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon are also being investigated

At the same time, Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon ran side by side behind William Byron. All three cars are Chevy funded teams.

It appeared that Chastain and Dillon were content to ride, even though they looked fast enough to pass Byron. Similar to Wallace, there was interesting audio over the team radio.

No. 3 team radio, “24 to go, the No. 24 is only two points to the good right now on points.”

The crew added, “If we pass him, he’ll be out.”

The No. 3 stated, “Does the No. 1 crew chief know the deal?” They added, “Yeah, he should.”

These actions could also result in a penalty.

NASCAR confirms they are looking into these situations

“If you look at the other situations that were going with the No. 23 and the cars behind the No. 24, really no bearing.”

“We’ll look at those at a later time. When we dissect exactly what happened. The No. 20 up against the fence then riding the fence. Which is clearly stated in our statement after Ross did that that, that would not be accepted.”