After Ryan Blaney claimed the checkered flag at Martinsville Speedway, it seemed as though the real drama started to unfold. One could see a silent Christopher Bell and William Byron by their cars, waiting for the official announcement to be made by NASCAR. While it seemed as though Bell was the last one to enter the top 4 contenders, it went haywire after he was penalized, citing safety violations. 

This put Byron in the last position. However, this is not as easy as it seems. This is when there were whispers of race manipulation by Byron’s Chevy teammates. As he advances to the next track, there have been rising questions about integrity from insiders as well as NASCAR veterans. 

Willian Byron’s victory due to cordoning off by Chastain and Dillon

Towards the closing laps, both Byron and Bell were seen in a tough battle trying to manage their lead and move up. After all, their position would ultimately decide their chances of making it to the finals at Phoenix. It was during the last few laps of the 500-lap race that fans saw Byron fading from the field after he successfully led 51 laps. For every spot that William Byron lost, he fell one point behind and closer to the elimination line. He finally settled in the 6th position, just a point behind Christopher Bell. This is exactly when William Byron’s Chevy teammates did something that raised speculations. Although both Chastain and Dillon had the speed to overtake, they chose to not do so. Initially, it seemed slightly confusing. However, one could understand that this move was intentional. 

Not only that, both Chastain and Dillon seemed to create a barricade that ensured that no one could topple them. If William Byron had lost even one position, he would be out of the Top 4. It seemed as though there was some hidden Chevy strategy that each of these drivers was following so that they could safeguard the one who had the highest chance of making it to the Finale. Reacting to this move, NASCAR insiders lashed out.

Jeff Gluck broke down exactly what happened on the track that day. He said, “As the laps are winding down like ten to go Byron cannot lose a single one more spot because Byron is hanging on by one point and Bell has the tie breaker. So even though Bell can’t gain a lot because he’s trapped a lap down, Byron cannot afford to lose any spots. But Byron is fading, it was almost starting to look reminiscent of last year where he cannot hang on and other cars are coming up. But instead of passing him, it just so happens that Chevy teammates were behind them. You have Austin Dillon, you have Ross Chastian and it was clear even before we heard the radio chatter, these guys were not going to pass him. Lap after lap, they just get in line they’re riding behind him, they’re clogging him, they clogged up the track”. 

What added fuel to the speculations was a radio conversation between Dillon and his crew. In this radio conversation, it was evident that both Dillon and Chastain had the instructions to cordon off William Byron and not surpass him in the drive. During the radio conversation, Dillon asked, “Does he know that deal?” His crew chief responded to the same saying, “I’m just trying to find them to tell them. Does the #1 crew chief know the deal?” to which another RCR member replied, “Yeah, he should”. This radio conversation is a clear indication that there was a strategy cooking between the Chevy drivers and it was indeed a well-planned move.

Reacting to the same, Jeff Gluck, “NBC plays that radio chatter during that 27 minute delay as they’re trying to figure out everything after the race and you know both are told, hey listen, you know the situation whatever it is, he’s in by one point, and they didn’t have to say, I don’t know I heard them specifically say don’t pass. I don’t know that we said that or we heard that but they were saying he’s in by one point. They’re smart and they are like okay we are not going to do that. So is that race manipulation? We will find out, we don’t know how NASCAR feels about that yet”.

It’s not just Chevrolet facing backlash, as Martinsville exposed another team’s behind-the-scenes strategy.

Chevrolet Might not Be the Only Lobby at Work During Martinsville Speedway 

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Although the strategy adopted by the Chevy drivers seems to be alarming, they were probably not the only ones up to this kind of lobbying. There has been growing consensus among the audience that even the Toyota drivers underwent a similar strategy on the tracks. Audiences are now of the opinion that even Bubba Wallace slowed down deliberately so that he could let Christopher Bell pass, thus maintaining manufacturer teammate spirit.

Although this might have worked, Bell made a blunder by climbing up the wall and replicating the Hail Menon move by Chastain from two years back. Keeping in mind the recent NASCAR derivations, he was penalized and ultimately Byron had made it to the Top 4. Citing that this could also possibly be a race manipulation, NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck said, “We also don’t know how NASCAR feels yet about Bubba Wallace. Bubba Wallace was the only car that Christopher Bell could have passed coming to the end there because he was trapped a lap down”.

He further added, “I do think it’s not great, and I’m wondering how NASCAR will react to it if they do anything. But the Bubba thing there, because that’s really, that’s him slowing down to give a spot.” Although Bubba Wallace has mentioned that there were problems with his tire and it was purely unintentional, do you think that Wallace will lose out on his position in the finals?