It’s been two years since Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain made a move so unusual, so dramatic and so defying that logic dictated that NASCAR decided to ban it.

It was the “Hail Melon” – a move the Alva, Florida watermelon farmer came up with that looked like it came straight out of a video game.

It was the final round of the 2022 NASCAR Martinsville. Speedway, stepped on the accelerator and took his hands off the wheel. Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet was driven by the outside wall, and he was able to travel much faster as he lost control.

Through friction sparks and the screech of metal on concrete, Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move was enough to give Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota a few feet ahead at the checkered flag.

Chastain entered the championship race; Hamlin was eliminated and those who witnessed the movement were unsure of what they had actually seen.

NASCAR benefited greatly from the worldwide attention to this move, but subsequently banned it due to safety concerns. The crossover gate is located in Turn 4 and poses a serious hazard if a car crashes into it at the right angle and causes carnage.

Just two years later, a similar situation occurred in the Nov. 3 Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron battled for fourth among eight drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Elimination Race at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. Byron had a four-point lead over Bell on the final lap when Bell passed 23XI’s Bubba Wallace heading into Turn 3 on the final lap.

Bell’s No. 20 Toyota lost traction and crashed into the Turn 3 wall. Audio from Bell’s radio clearly showed the driver accelerating and performing a similar move to the “Hail Melon” in Turn 4, allowing him to cross the finish line.

Call it a “Half Chastain” move, because it was half the move Chastain made two years ago.

Bell’s finish tied Byron on points, while the tiebreaker went to Bell for his second-place finish in Las Vegas on October 20.

But when both drivers got out of their race cars, there was no celebration. They knew the finish was under review by NASCAR officials.

Video and audio of the final laps were reviewed by NASCAR for nearly 30 minutes before it was determined that Bell had committed a safety violation by driving over the wall due to the crossover gate in Turn 4. NASCAR recorded Bell’s position, and that provided the final transfer position. in Championship 4 to Byron, leaving Bell four points below the cut-line.

Bell finished 22nd^i.e in the race.

“It was Martinsville, and it was a closing race on the eighth lap,” Bell explained. “Unfortunately I was on the bad side.

“I made a lot of mistakes, ran a sloppy race. It’s a shame that it comes down to such a ball and strike. You can look at both sides of the fence – the Chevy organization had a lot of blocking so the 24 (William Bryon) didn’t lose positions. I slid against the wall and kept my foot in it.

“I think this is a losing move.”

Bell explained the final two laps as the disappointment set in that he would not be one of four drivers with a chance to race for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship in the Nov. 10 NASCAR Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway.

These four drivers include the three drivers who won races in the Round of Eight, including Team Penske’s Joey Logano in Las Vegas, 23XI’s Tyler Reddick at Homestead Miami, Blaney in Martinsville and Byron, who finished as the driver with the highest finish in points having not won a race in the Round of Eight.

“Yeah, I just got loose,” Bell explained. “I tried to get past the 23 (Bubba Wallace) and every time I did I was kind of stuck between the 10 (Noah Gragson) and the 23 and slid into the wall.

“Every time I slid into the wall, I knew I had to be in that position and I just tried to get to the line.

“I didn’t deliberately put it on the ground and hit the fence; I slid into the wall and that’s all she wrote.

Byron’s sixth-place finish gave him enough points to tie Bell before it became a tiebreaker and this year’s Daytona 500 winner will have a chance to win his first NASCAR Cup Series championship in Phoenix.

“I’ve never been a part of anything like this before, so I don’t really know how to feel,” Byron said. “I hate it for everyone involved, but I’m happy for this No. 24 Liberty University Chevy team. I’m glad we’re moving forward, and we’ll continue and focus on Phoenix (Raceway).

“I will think about this with my team in Martinsville (Speedway). We had a lot of setbacks there in the second half of the race. Yeah, I mean, we know what the rules are, right? So it is what it is. I wouldn’t say I’m happy, but I’m excited to be racing for a championship, that’s for sure.”

NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer explained why NASCAR made this decision and why it took 27 minutes to reach a conclusion.

“We want to do it right first and foremost,” Sawyer said. “This doesn’t happen every week. We want to be prepared.

“I thought our team in the tower did exactly what we had to do. Let’s do this right.

“Luckily we don’t have it every week. It’s something we’ll come back to and find out if we certainly could have made that decision sooner. I didn’t know it lasted – you could have told me it lasted about 55 minutes or so. Don’t know.

Sawyer said NASCAR officials watched the video and thought back to the meeting NASCAR had two years ago after Chastain made his dramatic move.

“There was a lot of dialogue with the drivers that this is not a move we want to make on the last lap,” Sawyer said. “We were able to get through Phoenix and had a great championship race that year.

“At the off-season meeting with the industry, meeting with our drivers, and with a man, that was not the step they wanted to make. There was language back in the line. If you look at it today, I was clearly standing there in three and four against the fence and drove the fans right off four there.

“It is strictly to protect both our drivers and our fans. So yeah, it was pretty easy.

“If you really break down exactly what happened, look at the situation where the 20 (Bell) is against the fence and then drives over the fence. We made it clear in our statement after Ross did that that that would not be accepted. ”