Byron makes Champ 4, Bell out after NASCAR issues safety penalty

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Two years after Ross Chastain made himself a viral star with the “Hail Melon,” the complexion of the NASCAR Cup Series’ Championship 4 field again came down to a fateful last-lap meeting with Martinsville Speedway’s outside retaining wall.

Christopher Bell’s version Sunday night was more of a half-melon that forced a tiebreaker with fellow playoff contender William Byron, but instead of saving his postseason fate, the result was a full penalty that shattered his season-long dream.

Byron will vie for the Bill France Cup in 2024 after a final-lap review of Sunday’s Xfinity 500, the Round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway that left both Bell and Byron in an agonizing wait to learn their outcomes. Ryan Blaney had snapped up the third title spot on the strength of his stirring drive to his second consecutive victory in Martinsville’s autumn showdown. The fourth and final title-eligible berth was in limbo some 25 minutes after the checkered flag.

Initially, it looked to be Bell. He crossed the start/finish line in 18th place, provisionally putting the Joe Gibbs Racing driver into a tiebreaker with Byron in the playoff standings. But the way he grabbed that position came under scrutiny after his No. 20 Toyota went hard below the fading No. 23 Toyota of Bubba Wallace into the third turn, carrying both cars up out of the groove. Bell’s car made contact with the outside wall and scraped along the barrier as he muscled his way to the front straightaway.

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Bell‘s move created a points deadlock between him and Byron, a tiebreak that would have gone in Bell’s favor based on best finish in the Round of 8. But after a lengthy post-race discussion, NASCAR officials deemed Bell‘s move a safety violation, dropping him instead to a 22nd-place finish as the final car one lap down. That gave the final championship berth to Byron, who advanced by just four points after holding on for a sixth-place result.

Sitting on the outside pit wall, Bell pursed his lips after the remaining crowd reacted to the announcement over the track’s public-address system. No. 20 crew chief Adam Stevens gently shook his head and threw his gum over his left shoulder. An eventful day that included a modest rally from an early spin and an unscheduled pit stop for loose wheels was over.

“It’s a bummer, but in the grand scheme of things, there’s a lot of things that we did poorly today that we could have done better within our control,” Bell said. “So yeah, I don’t know. We accomplished a lot of things this year. The championship won’t be one of them, but we’ll try again next year.”

Chastain‘s “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville in 2022 is remembered as a go-for-broke maneuver plucked from the video-game world that put the Trackhouse No. 1 Chevy driver into the title race for the first time. Chastain gained multiple spots with a full-throttle ride of the wall, but while its creativity was celebrated, the increased safety risk was not.

Before the next season began, NASCAR banned the move by establishing rule 10.5.2.6.A, which states: “Safety is a top priority for NASCAR and NEM (NASCAR Event Management). Therefore, 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. Safety violations will be handled on a case-by-case basis.”

Stevens joined owner Coach Joe Gibbs and other team officials in meeting with NASCAR’s competition crew to argue their post-race case that the original finish should stand. But NASCAR Senior VP of Competition Elton Sawyer stated that in-race infractions cannot be appealed and that the No. 20 car’s move merited a safety violation in a “pretty straightforward” ruling, saying that he wouldn’t speculate on Bell’s intent.

“If we’re just talking about the decision, this situation is nothing like the situation of the 1 car,” Stevens said after his visit to the Cup Series hauler. “We attempted to make the corner. We passed the 23. We got into the marbles. He got into the fence, after we passed the 23. We slowed down a full second from our previous lap. We weren’t up there matting the gas and grabbing gears. It’s just a different situation. It sucks that it’s a judgment call and you can’t appeal an in-race violation, but I just don’t see anything that’s even remotely close to what the 1 did that they outlawed.”

Byron, meanwhile, returned to the Championship 4 for the second straight year and will bid for his first Cup Series crown in next Sunday’s season finale (3 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at Phoenix Raceway. It was the second consecutive year that he had eked his way into the final four by single digits, and his view of Bell’s bold move came from a different perspective.

“I‘ve never been through anything like that, so definitely some trauma from that for sure,” Byron said of his wait, “because I usually get to go home by now. So yeah, just don‘t really know what to think about all that, but thankful that NASCAR looked at it, that they have rules in place and that‘s what it is.”

Byron led 51 laps and was in contention into the final stage, but his No. 24 Chevrolet had begun to fade in the closing laps. Even though Bell was trapped a lap down in 19th place for the final stretch, he chipped away at the margin as Byron began to slip from second place out of the top five in the last 100 laps.

Once Byron dipped to sixth place, he fell no further as fellow Chevy drivers Chastain and Austin Dillon ran side by side behind him. Sawyer said that their actions and radio transmissions would be subject to review later next week, and that competition officials would also look at the No. 23 team’s final-lap actions.

Stevens was among those leveling accusations about a Chevrolet blockade, citing a perceived unwillingness to pass Byron late.

“That looked pretty obvious to me. I’m sure it did to a lot of people,” Stevens said. “They clogged the track up and hunkered down, and easily could have both passed him and then a couple more cars as well. So I mean, I think that’s a bad look, but bad looks aren’t going to put me in the Championship 4 apparently.”

Bell was measured in his post-race comments, saying multiple times that he was at a loss for words. “I’m not bitter,” he said. “It just wasn’t meant to be, and I’m proud of the successes that we’ve had in 2024. It’s a bummer to not go to Phoenix, because obviously that’s a track we’re really good at. But thankfully, I’ve got a couple more years on my contract, so I’ll get another shot at it.”

Byron will be the lone representative for Hendrick Motorsports in the championship battle after the clock ran out on teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott at Martinsville. The organization celebrated a key moment in its 40th anniversary season here back in the spring, registering a 1-2-3 finish that was led by Byron’s No. 24 with Larson and Elliott in tow.

Sunday’s return to Martinsville meant higher stakes and nerves, as Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon watched the playoff picture transform through the 500-lap race — from the possibility of two team cars advancing, to one, to potentially none. Byron waited it out like the rest, controversy or not.

“In this situation, I mean, it’s hard to feel like it’s a win,” Gordon said, minutes after the ruling was announced. “It’s disappointing, and it’s controversial and you don’t want to see it come down like that. But at the same time, you want to see your team go have a shot the championship. And so, that was up to NASCAR to make that decision. They did, and now, all eyes forward on going and racing for a championship.”

Contributing: Cameron Richardson, staff reports