NASCAR World in Splits as Ross Chastain Blames NASCAR for Banning Another Signature Move After ‘Hail Melon’

Necessity is the mother of invention. Trackhouse Racing driver Ross Chastain has followed this proverb wholeheartedly. From time to time, the Melon Man has tried to find shortcuts in racing that would give him an advantage over other drivers on the grid. One of the most famous examples was his actions at last year’s Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Martinsville race.

NASCAR felt like Chastain might be incentivized to abuse the loopholes after he surprised everyone with the out-of-the-box move. Taking quick action, the authorities deemed it against the rules of play and banned it from future use. The #1 driver voiced his frustration about it through Twitter as fans went into a frenzy over his sarcasm.

Ross Chastain takes a sly dig at NASCAR for banning quick moves like ‘Hail Melon’

The 30-year-old has a history of trying new solutions on the track. Before the Hail Melon, he tried to use the access road at last year’s Indianapolis race. Trying to cut short the course of the race, he left it up to the race authorities to notify him in case of any discrepancies in his approach. Owing to this witty but illegitimate move, Chastain managed to get to the finish line only behind Tyler Reddick. But after NASCAR slapped him with a time penalty of 30 seconds, he dropped to finish 27th, eventually.

No one expected Chastain to try something similar in the future after facing the consequences of his quick-witted response. Instead, later that year in October at Martinsville, he tried something from his chest of innovations yet again as he used the wall to catapult himself ahead in the grid. He went from 10th to 5th in the Xfinity 500 [Cup Series] race in a matter of seconds. This stunt took NASCAR by shock and so much so that they decided to banish this creation of his as well.

The move can be classified as a risk certainly. The walls are not a safe region to operate around and a slight mistake in the maneuver could end up throwing the car off course or damaging it extensively. Not just the driver using the move, but other drivers on the track are threatened by this as well. Apart from that, it also needed to be curbed, since drivers would try this move pretty often during races to gain positions.

NASCAR declared this move invalid and impermissible after a long time since the event happened. Now, Chastain has taken a dig at NASCAR for the same in a tweet and claims that they have taken away his creative ideas. He wrote, “They took away my short cut.”

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Ross Chastain has always been loved by the public. With a resembling approach to the late legend Dale Earnhardt, he leaves not an inch of space in overtaking other drivers and has been known for his involvement in crashes frequently. His aggression has earned him fans and enemies alike, but mostly he has received support from the fandom. A certain fan claimed that NASCAR had to take away the genius idea just because it was too good to be true.

Another fan says that he was reminded of the move as he watched the race at the Indy road course. “Ha!!! I thought about that early in the race!!!”, he commented.

“Breaking news: Ross Chastain’s GPS just received an update – “Shortcut Mode” deactivated at Indianapolis Road Course. Hang in there, Ross! We’re all rooting for your epic non-shortcut victory lap this time!”

“They sure did! I was thinking the same thing. I’m always looking for that angle now lol”, replied another fan, implying the same. The iconic moment from Chastain has been etched in many fans’ memories, it seems.

“The ultra shortcut has been patched” claimed another fan pointing toward the update in regulations from NASCAR following the Hail Melon move. Chastain did give us some great ever-seen-before ideas but alas exploring loopholes in racing, as witty as they sound, exploits unexplored backdoors.

Read More: Ross Chastain’s Road Course Troubles Continue as Both Trackhouse Racing Teammates Bag Top-10 Finish