NASCAR dropped the hammer on Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace for last Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway. NASCAR announced late Tuesday evening that the crew chiefs, spotters for each car, and a team executive from each organization have been suspended for Sunday's Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway. Each team will be penalized with the loss of 50 driver and owner points, and the drivers and owners of each car will also be fined $100,000.
NEWS: The Nos. 1, 3, and 23 teams have been penalized for violating the NASCAR Member Code of Conduct at @MartinsvilleSwy.
The crew chief and spotter of each car, as well as a team executive from each organization, have been suspended for this weekend’s race in Phoenix. pic.twitter.com/rMY7TAiFS7
During Sunday's race William Byron and Christopher Bell were in a slugfest to see which driver would advance on points to the Championship 4 race in Phoenix. Byron held the points lead in the waning laps of the race when Bubba Wallace was told of the situation and responded on the radio that he was having tire issues and would nurse the No. 23 Toyota Camry to the end of the race. Bell proceeded to pass the fellow Toyota Camry to improve his points standing and at the time was above Byron in the points cutoff to advance to the Championship 4 race.
Chastain and Dillon, both Chevrolet Camaro drivers like Byron, were advised of the points situation and appeared to block traffic for Byron.
"It was Martinsville, and it was a Round of 8 cutoff race," Christopher Bell said after the race. "Unfortunately, I was on the bad side of it. Made a lot of mistakes, ran a sloppy race. It is a shame that it comes down to a ball-and-strike call like that. You can look at both sides of the fence — the Chevy organization had a lot of blocking going on so that the 24 (Byron) didn't lose positions. I slid into the wall (on the final lap) and kept my foot into it. I guess that is a losing move."
The three penalized teams are planning on appealing the ruling. After the penalties, Bubba Wallace dropped from 17th to 18th in the driver standings, while Ross Chastain maintained 19th, and Austin Dillon fell from 28th to 33rd place.
NASCAR's swift and strong punishment is sending a strong message to the Cup Series field before the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway this Sunday. What may have been more of a social norm in racing days gone by are apparently no longer tolerated by NASCAR's governing officials. The wink and nod to help out a fellow manufacturer era seems to be going the way of the dodo in NASCAR.
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