Christopher Bell’s season was decided by NASCAR deliberation over the ultimate lap of Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, and it didn’t go his means.
It was 27 minutes of ready earlier than the choice was made. Bell was issued a security violation for using towards the wall on the ultimate lap to realize a place. The place, an 18th place end on the time, put Bell in a tie with William Byron however Bell had the tiebreaker on finishes to take the ultimate switch spot.
Bell made the transfer round Toyota teammate Bubba Wallace going into Flip 3. The No. 20 Toyota then went to the wall in the course of the nook and got here off it on the exit of Flip 4.
Ought to Christopher Bell race for the NASCAR Championship?
Watch this transfer on the ultimate lap. pic.twitter.com/3A3BrNe0fd
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 3, 2024
The penalty moved Bell to a Twenty second-place end. Byron was given the ultimate spot within the Championship 4.
“It’s a bummer,” Bell stated, “however within the grand scheme of issues, there’s plenty of issues we did poorly immediately that we may have completed higher in our management, so I don’t know.
“We achieved plenty of issues this 12 months. The championship gained’t be certainly one of them, however we’ll strive once more subsequent 12 months.”
NASCAR outlawed any such strikes — however didn’t add a rule to the rulebook — after Ross Chastain confirmed everybody it could work in 2022. Chastain went extensive open into Flip 3 and rode the wall to the end of the elimination race at Martinsville Speedway to realize the positions he wanted to advance.
The incident falls below a security violation that states, “Security is a high precedence for NASCAR and NEM. Due to this fact, any violations deemed to compromise the protection of an Occasion or in any other case pose a harmful threat to the protection of Opponents, Officers, spectators, or others are handled with the very best diploma of seriousness. Security violations might be dealt with on a case-by-case foundation.”
Joe Gibbs Racing representatives, together with Joe Gibbs and Bell’s crew chief Adam Stevens, spoke to NASCAR within the hauler for about quarter-hour. Gibbs was knowledgeable that an in-race violation will not be appealable.
“It simply bought away from me,” Bell stated of the ultimate lap. “It bought away from me and I slid into the wall, and I knew I needed to have the place so I attempted to get to the road as quick as I may and that’s all she wrote.”
Bell began sixteenth and spun within the first stage. Though it didn’t trigger important injury when he bought free and collided with Corey Lajoie in Flip 1, it put Bell behind for the remainder of the afternoon. He didn’t earn stage factors in both stage.
Beneath warning on the finish of the second stage, Bell needed to return to pit street for the group to tighten the left entrance wheel. He fell a lap down on lap 370, the place he stayed till the ultimate. Wallace was additionally one lap down and the one place Bell may achieve on the end.
Wallace denied doing something to assist Bell on the ultimate lap. The No. 23 appeared to gradual earlier than attending to Flip 3, and Bell moved to Wallace’s inside for the place.
“I went free or one thing broke and was I simply nursing it,” Wallace stated. “Then he tried to slip me, and I’m like, brother. [I was] simply making an attempt to bide our time and never crash and produce out a warning and jumble up the entire subject, in order that was it.”
Bell didn’t assume he did something unsafe to warrant the penalty. Nor did he assume a penalty was within the playing cards.
“I made a mistake and I slid into the wall,” Bell stated. “And sadly, they dominated that as a security violation. I don’t know what to say. I didn’t advance my place into the wall. I misplaced time on the racetrack, but it surely’s not meant to be. It’s high-quality.”
Bell walked to Byron earlier than leaving pit street. The 2 embraced and shared a quick trade concerning the flip of occasions.
“Properly, Willie, that’s not how I needed it to go, however congratulations,” Bell advised Byron. “Go get them subsequent week.”
