CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Drama continued to encompass NASCAR ahead of its championship-deciding season finale as the sanctioning body issued $600,000 in fines and suspended nine team members from three different teams on Tuesday for alleged race manipulation at Martinsville Speedway.
The penalties came down after a contentious final battle Sunday at the Virginia track in which Christopher Bell initially qualified for the championship final four, but his move to hit the wall and use it for momentum violated a banned safety rule and was disallowed.
That gave the final spot in this week's winner-take-all finale at Phoenix Raceway to William Byron.
But, NASCAR was clear in disqualifying Bell that it would take a hard look at the actions other drivers played in the sequence of events as Bell and Byron battled for the final spot in the championship four.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, seemed to stress that punished drivers Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace were lucky not to be suspended.
“In this case we felt we wanted to focus more on the team leadership, something that we haven't done in the past,” Sawyer said. “But I promise you that does not exclude going forward. We have meetings coming up this week with our drivers and we will get that point across to them and be very clear that when you do anything that's going to compromise the integrity of our sport, we're going to react.”
Drivers have been on notice since a 2013 scandal that they are mandated to give 100% at all time and not participate in any race manipulation. It stemmed from the final regular-season race of that season when Clint Bowyer deliberately spun to start a sequence of events that gave teammate Martin Truex Jr. the final playoff spot.
Truex was kicked out of the playoffs — the scandal ultimately caused the closure of Michael Waltrip Racing — and Jeff Gordon was added as an unprecedented additional driver because he'd been robbed of the chance to race for the playoff position. It was after a weekend of crisis meetings between NASCAR and the teams at the playoff-opening race that NASCAR made its 100% rule.
But the manipulation rule is openly flouted at Daytona and Talladega, where the cars from the manufacturers all work together in the draft and when the drivers make their pit stops. There has yet to be a penalty for those instances.
In this latest case, NASCAR determined Toyota driver Wallace faked a flat tire in order to give Bell the leeway to move out of the way and hit the wall. The riding the wall move was banned after Chastain did it in 2022 to earn the final playoff berth.
In the case of Byron, NASCAR ruled that Chastain and Dillon both ran interference to help fellow Chevrolet driver Byron not lose any position on the track that would cost him a spot in the championship.
Sawyer said the sanctioning body considered taking action against manufacturers Chevrolet and Toyota, but there is nothing in the rulebook that would call for the manufacturers to be punished. NASCAR also planned to meet with the leaders of Ford, Chevy and Toyota to discuss the situation.
Because the penalties were issued the week of the season finale, the teams have until Wednesday afternoon to ask for an expedited appeal. The appeals would likely be heard Thursday.
Trackhouse Racing, which fields Chastain's Chevy, said it would appeal, as did 23XI for the Toyota of Wallace.
“We feel strongly that we did not commit any violations during Sunday's race,” 23XI said in a statement. The team is currently embroiled in a lawsuit against NASCAR over the charter system and has Tyler Reddick racing Sunday for the Cup Series title.
The penalties issued were:
Ross Chastain
A $100,000 fine for Chastain, a $100,000 fine for Trackhouse, and one-race suspensions for team executive Tony Lunders, crew chief Philip Surgen and spotter Brandon McReynolds. Chastain is the defending race winner at Phoenix. The team also lost 50 points.
Austin Dillon
Dillon was fined $100,000, as was Richard Childress Racing. One-race suspensions were given to team executive Keith Rodden, crew chief Justin Alexander and spotter Brandon Benesch. The team also lost 50 points. Richard Childress Racing also said it would appeal.
Bubba Wallace
Wallace was fined $100,000, as was 23XI. The one-race suspensions went to team executive Dave Rogers, crew chief Robert Barker and spotter Freddie Kraft. The team also lost 50 points.
Sawyer had said Sunday that NASCAR would review the Martinsville finish to see if there was indeed any race manipulation with rival drivers helping others that are aligned with the same manufacturer.
But he said he hoped the penalties were harsh enough to curb the manufacturer alliances and race manipulation.
“We looked at the most recent penalty that we had written for an infraction very similar... we wanted to ramp this one up,” Sawyer said, “and we did. We did that in a way that included team leadership and this is something that we felt like we wanted to get our point across that it is a responsibility of all of us.... to uphold the integrity of the sport.”
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press
