NASCAR in Awkward Spot Following Latest Finish Manipulation Drama

NASCAR finds itself in an awkward position on the eve of its Championship 4 race this weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

Charges of “finish-manipulation” are rampant after one Toyota team and two Chevrolet teams appear to have helped each other’s Playoff drivers in the Round 3 elimination race last weekend at Martinsville.

Even so, it’s unlikely the four-driver championship lineup will change. Ford drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney are in, as is the Toyota of Tyler Reddick and the Chevrolet of William Byron. There’s no evidence that Logano and Blaney got any improper help, just as there’s none surrounding Reddick.

The Penalties

In response to the fairly clear-cut evidence of cheating, NASCAR on Tuesday issued severe penalties against nine members of three teams accused of “finish-manipulation.”

• The sanctioning body suspended team executive Tony Lunders, crew chief Phil Surgen, and spotter Brandin McReynolds of the No. 1 Trackhouse Chevrolet of Ross Chastain from Phoenix. The company was fined $100,000 and docked 50 owner points after officials said Chastain was part of a “rolling roadblock” to protect fellow Chevrolet driver William Byron in the final laps at Martinsville.

• Similarly, team executive Keith Rodden, crew chief Justin Alexander, and spotter Brandon Bensch of the No. 3 Richard Childress Chevrolet of Austin Dillon were suspended from Phoenix. The team was fined $100,000 and docked 50 owner points for being part of the same Chevrolet “rolling roadblock” to keep Byron from being challenged down the stretch.

• And team executive Dave Rogers, crew chief Bootie Barker, and spotter Freddie Kraft of the No. 23XI Toyota team were suspended from the Phoenix weekend. The Denny Hamlin/Michael Jordan team was fined $100,000 and docked 50 owner points for having Bubba Wallace slow so fellow Toyota driver Christopher Bell could gain an important points position. He and Byron were fighting to gain the last Playoff spot at Phoenix. Bell might have passed, anyway, but Wallace made it easier.

Not the First Time

This is the second time in 12 years NASCAR has faced charges of “finish-manipulation.” Older fans might remember the 2013 fall Richmond race when the term was first heard. It came about when Michael Waltrip Racing clearly and shamelessly had one of its drivers create a late-race caution to help a teammate qualify for the upcoming Playoffs.

In short: crew chief Brian Pattie ordered Clint Bowyer to spin to cause a caution late in the Federated Auto Parts 400. That caution helped teammate Martin Truex Jr. move into the Playoffs over Team Penske driver Ryan Newman. Fans, NASCAR officials, competitors, and the media monitoring radio chatter that night knew almost immediately what was going down.

The ugly and complex brouhaha lasted most of the following week. Finally, NASCAR took the unprecedented step of jiggering what would have been its 12-driver Playoff field. It kicked out Truex Jr. and reinstated Newman, then added Jeff Gordon as the 13th Playoff driver. Gordon wasn’t part of MWR’s shenanigans, but evidence surfaced that Team Penske asked fellow Ford driver David Gilliland to let Joey Logano pass to gain a Playoff spot over Gordon.

The Bowyer/Truex Jr./Newman incident led to the gradual downfall and 2015 closing of MWR. NASCAR issued a $300,000 fine and suspended several of its key employees who had been part of what came to be called “Spingate.” Primary sponsor NAPA Auto Parts and several lesser sponsors distanced themselves from Waltrip’s team. Truex Jr. and Bowyer found other rides, and Waltrip ended up as a popular TV figure.

Now, 11 years later, NASCAR is dealing with another uncomfortable situation going into its last race. This one appears to have unfolded during the final laps of last weekend’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway, another Virginia short track.'

The Case of Christopher Bell

Tuesday’s severe penalties seem to have answered NASCAR’s questions about teams helping teams. And on Sunday night NASCAR answered the question regarding whether Bell intentionally leaned against and rode the Turn 3-4 wall to gain positions, clearly a violation of NASCAR unappealable “race-safety” rules.

The initial ruling was that Bell’s wall-hugging move was enough to drop him from 18th to 22nd on the rundown sheet, enough to give Byron the final Playoff spot on points. At the time – well after dark Sunday evening – NASCAR said its immediate concern was Bell’s wall-riding penalty. Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer said that was the only thing covered during the lengthy post-race discussion among his officials. The questions about teammates helping teammates would have to wait until he and his staff reviewed all aspects of the race. Once they did, the penalties were announced.

Regarding the Wallace/Bell and Chastain/Dillon/Byron situations: “If you look at the other situations – the 23 car (Wallace) and the cars behind the 24 (Byron) – had no bearing (on the official results) at this time,” he said. “We’ll look at those at a later time. When you dissect exactly what happened, look at the situation with the 20 (Bell) getting up against the fence and riding the fence. We clearly stated in our statement after Ross did that (in 2022), that it would not be accepted.

“In our off-season meeting with the industry and with our drivers, to a man that was not a move they want to have to make. There is language in the Rule Book. When you look at it today, he clearly got up against the fence in three and four and rode it all the way off four. It was a pretty straightforward call.”

Understandably, Bell said his contact with the Turn 3-4 wall was unintentional, that his Toyota got loose and slid up as he passed the slowing Wallace. “I was trying to get by the 23 (Wallace) and I was kind of pinned between the 10 (Noah Gragson) and the 23 and slid into the wall,” the Joe Gibbs Racing driver said. “Whenever I slid into the wall, I knew I had to have that position and just tried to get to the line. I didn’t intentionally floor it and go into the fence. I slipped into the wall and that’s all she wrote.”

Also understandably, Sawyer stayed away from that comment. “I’m not going to speculate on what Christopher did or said what he meant to do,” he said. “It wouldn't be fair to try to make that type of decision based off that. We looked at the data. We looked at video. We’ve been very clear, based off our conversations with our industry, based off that move two years ago, that it would not be tolerated.”

Now, it’s up to NASCAR to find a way—as difficult as it may be—to ensure that teams and teammates can’t get away with “finish manipulations.”

Good luck with that.