Race manipulation is unethical but clearly exists in NASCAR! The Martinsville Cup race was perhaps one of the biggest instances of race manipulation in recent times. In the race, it was a battle between William Byron and Christopher Bell for the final spot after Ryan Blaney was comfortably leading the race in the end stages. Since Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick had already secured their spots.

What should have been a battle between the #24 and #20, a fight between Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, rather turned out to be a tussle between Chevrolet and Toyota. This was because Ford had two cars in the championship 4 with Logano and Ryan Blaney, and Toyota with Reddick wanted to lock it. Probably Chevy looked at Byron as their last chance to put their car in championship contention. And capitalizing on NASCAR’s lack of rules when it comes to manufacturers, it was a cakewalk for them to manipulate the race.

NASCAR is eyeing big changes after the Martinsville incident

In the last stages of the race, Byron was in the 6th position and Christopher Bell was in 19th. This had the #24 lead by 1 point. It was an intense battle as Byron tried not to lose a position and Bell desperately looked to gain a position. Had the one-point gap reduced to a draw, Bell would have progressed to the next round. According to the NASCAR rule, the driver with a better finish in any of the 3 races in the round of playoffs will progress, and Bell’s P2 in Las Vegas bested Byron’s P6 in the same race. And this is exactly what happened in the race, however, not until the very last turn.

The #24 did not lose a spot thanks to his Chevy teammates, creating a wall behind him. Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon made sure that no car passed them. Radio conversations from their cars have revealed it was a coordinated effort between the two teams. This is also what left Brad Keselowski frustrated as he tried to pass the #3 and #1. And on the Toyota front, Bell, surprisingly, on the last turn passed Bubba Wallace, who suddenly slowed down. A position was gained, and the points were tied. While the #23 team has refused this accusation by saying they had a tire problem, NASCAR remained adamant, as no such problems were found in their inspection of Wallace’s car. However, eventually, Byron progressed as Bell used the banned ‘Hail Melon’ move to finish the race.

NASCAR, after taking its sweet time, has finally penalized the culprits in this blatant display of race manipulation. The drivers involved, #1, #3, and #23, received fines of $1,00,000 and have 50 points docked off from their season. NASCAR asked their teams, along with a fine of $1,00,000, to suspend the crew chiefs, spotters, and competition directors involved, for the next race. Still, these are not all the wrongdoers. The manufacturers Chevrolet and Toyota aren’t facing any penalty despite it being their ploy. This is because NASCAR, in their rules, has no penalties mentioned for the OEMs.

However, NASCAR, vice president Elton Sawyer recently talked about there being a possibility of such penalties coming in the future. He said, “To make sure that when our fans show up on a given day and watch a race that they’re seeing the best competition possible and there’s nothing in there that’s manipulating that. So we do feel like that this is the right path at this time, we will make sure going forward if we need to we will ramp it up again. We will include drivers we will include OEMs going forward if we need to we will get this point across.”

This comes because NASCAR feels the integrity of the sport is in question with this incident, and that is something that is not tolerable for the racing organization. According to Sawyer, it’s a collective responsibility to uphold the integrity. “Something that we feel like that you know we want to get our point across that it’s a responsibility of all of us the team owners, the team leadership as well as ourselves here at NASCAR to uphold the integrity of our sport, our racing,” Sawyer added.

Naturally, the teams won’t simply accept the penalties and their involvement in race manipulation, as they have planned to appeal NASCAR’s verdict.

Teams plan to challenge NASCAR’s verdict

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23XI Racing has an unwavering stand on them not aiding the #20 car. Hence took it to X to share their decision to appeal the NASCAR penalty. The team wrote, “23XI Racing is aware of the penalty issued by NASCAR stemming from Sunday’s race at Martinsville. We feel strongly that we did not commit any violations during Sunday’s race, and we will appeal NASCAR’s ruling.” Even RCR has echoed the same emotion as they too plan to appeal the decision.

If the penalty stands, Austin Dillon would find himself going from the 28th spot to the 33rd in the points ranking. Which would be the worst finish for Dillon since his first full season in 2014. Disappointed by NASCAR’s decision, RCR on X wrote, “Richard Childress Racing is disappointed in NASCAR’s penalty against the No. 3 team and plans to appeal.” Unlike the two teams, Trackhouse Racing hasn’t made a public announcement yet on their social media account. However, Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass is vouching for them to take the same route as well.

Pockrass on X wrote, “The appeals—RCR, Trackhouse and 23XI will all appeal—will be expedited and likely heard this week.” The penalties come under Section 5.5 of the NASCAR Rule Book, which states that competitors must race at 100% of their ability and take action against competitors who intend to “artificially alter” the race’s finishing order. The members of the Appeals Board will hear the appeals and decide if NASCAR’s decision will stand or not. Even if the Appeals Board decides to uphold NASCAR’s decision, the appellants have the right to re-appeal the decision to the National Motorsports Final Appeals Officer in accordance with the NASCAR Rule Book.

Well, only time will tell what happens in this case. What do you think? Is the penalty justified? Share your thoughts in the comments below.