Jimmie Johnson is a NASCAR legend and even he could never have imagined pulling off what Ross Chastain did in 2022. The seven-time Cup series winner of found Ross Chastain’s Hail Melon ‘wild,’ and who didn’t? NASCAR itself had to ban the popular but dangerous move pulled by some of the greatest in NASCAR in an attempt to win an impossible race. This includes Johnson’s competitor, Carl Edwards, a NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee who won the 2007 championship and finished in the top two in the Xfinity Series standings five years in a row.

In a recent interview, Johnson talked about both Chastain and Edwards and their infamous attempts at sling-shotting their way to the top. With the former being more successful at it and altering the championship race.

Jimmie Johnson was caught off guard

Ross Chastain has driven the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Team Chevrolet full time since the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. He secured his first win at the Circuit of The Americas, marking a milestone for the organization. He added another victory at Talladega Superspeedway a month later. However, his most iconic moment came in 2022 at Martinsville.

Christopher Bell was on the verge of clinching a spot in the Championship 4, with Joey Logano having secured his place weeks earlier. Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin were holding the other two transfer spots. As the race neared its conclusion, it seemed Hamlin would emerge victorious, leaving Chastain two points short of advancement.

Just when it appeared over for him, Chastain executed an extraordinary maneuver, delivering the ‘Hail Melon.’ As the pack slammed on the brakes into the tight Turns 3 and 4 of the half-mile short track, Ross Chastain up shifted instead. He kept the pedal to the floor, the car against the outside wall, and suddenly, no one cared who won the race. There was a stunned silence and then cheers.

In an interview with Jeff Hammond for Race Industry Week recently, Jimmie Johnson reminisced about the awe he was in when Chastain pulled it off, saying, “What Ross did there was wild.”

The No. 1 Chevrolet ripped around the outermost bounds of the race track, grinding against the wall and blistering past his astonished competitors. He lost hold of the wheel as he flew past five cars in total, getting his nose ahead of Hamlin at the line and eliminating his season-long rival from title contention. This infamous last lap set a new record for NASCAR stock cars at Martinsville, finishing in 18.845 seconds and being almost a full second quicker than the pole time achieved by Kyle Larson that weekend.

Jimmie Johnson was reminded of the time when Carl Edwards tried to pull off a similar move on him and said, “I have watched a couple of failed attempts where guys were trying to pass me. Carl Edwards, one time (pulled it), and I was so caught off guard by the move that I watched him and thought, man, he might pull it off, and then decided I better go because he was going to pull it off.”

In 2008, in Kansas, Carl Edwards put forth a remarkable wall ride effort, but Jimmie Johnson managed to fend him off. Although, after the race, Johnson said about the speed and the maneuver, “Where did he come from? He went by me so fast!”

Carl Edwards spoke about his move after the race, saying, “I plan on hitting the wall, but I didn’t plan on the wall, slowing me down that much. I played a lot of video games where you can just run it in the wall and hold it wide open. That’s what I did, but it didn’t work out quite the same as a video game.”

While Edwards’ move didn’t have championship-altering consequences, Chastain’s did, and it saw immediate action taken by NASCAR.

How was Chastain’s move seen in the NASCAR world?

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NASCAR banned the move shortly after. In its 2023 rules announcement, NASCAR indicated that an interpretation of the current safety regulations would classify specific actions as unlawful. Consequently, drivers could incur a penalty in the form of added laps or increased finish times, with the adjustment determined by NASCAR.

But, the day Chaistain pulled it off, Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced for NBC, screaming, “It was a video game move off into Turn 3. He put the car against the wall wide open all the way around Turn 3 and 4… I have never seen anything like that before in my life!” The footage of this remarkable achievement went viral, drawing interest beyond the motorsports scene and making its way into mainstream news, even attracting the attention of Formula 1 world champions.

F1 driver Fernando Alonso said: “This is the best thing of 2022 in motor racing! We all did this on video games with damage disabled. Never thought this could become a reality.” He wasn’t the only one surprised; drivers from all around the racing community expressed their astonishment and disbelief over the wall ride. Even NASCAR Hall of Famers were baffled, with Mark Martin referring to it as “cold-blooded” and Jeff Gordon saying that it was “pretty incredible.”

But there were detractors, too. For instance, Kyle Larson said it was “embarrassing” and “not a good look for our sport.” In 2021 at Darlington, Kyle Larson himself transformed his No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro into a dazzling, rim-riding machine. However, Denny Hamlin successfully thwarted Larson’s charge to victory. 

Over three years since the infamous move, how do you feel about it now?