If Martinsville was anything to go by, the Championship race at Phoenix won’t disappoint. Both Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin, this year’s favorites, are out! A massive shocker to most fans, the Martinsville race prompted immediate anger among fans, who called for NASCAR to take action. However, it was not because the two drivers weren’t in the Top 4. Rather, it was because of what fans believed was a faulty ruling when it came to William Byron and Christopher Bell.

And Kyle Petty is having none of it. Following the outcome of the Martinsville race, Kyle Petty sent a firm message to “whining” fans.

Kyle Petty takes a bold stand

On Sunday, the tracks saw Chevrolet drivers Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain not passing fellow Chevy driver William Byron even though they had enough speed. Toward the end of the race, Byron was the only Chevrolet driver who had a realistic chance of making it to the Championship 4; if Dillon and Chastain had overtaken him, he would’ve lost his chance. But they stayed behind, and Byron, who finished 6th, is still in contention for the ultimate title. 

Consequently, towards the closing laps it seemed as though Bubba Wallace slowed down intentionally so that he could let Christopher Bell take the lead. Both these instances stirred up a pool of emotions among fans and drivers who questioned race manipulation. The post-race controversy has been the talk of the town for the last couple of days, and now there is news that NASCAR will be delving deeper into the possible angles and contexts. When William Byron was asked about the blockage Dillon and Chastain contributed to, he quickly shifted the focus to Bubba Wallace.

Defending his fellow Chevy drivers, Byron said, “How about the 23 lifting for a lap? Nobody lifted behind me. Well, they never moved me. But they’re racing hard, they’re still getting in the corner hard. They’re not lifting down the straightaways… big margin to get back to somebody like the 23 did. So it’s hard racing, and we’re all at the limit.”  

Kyle Petty seemingly had quite a tough stance when it came to allegations against race manipulation. This comes as a reaction after fans saw drivers pointing fingers at each other. Reacting to this, Kyle Petty said, “I am gonna say this again to race fans. You can whine and moan all you want to. But everybody knew rolling into Daytona what the point system was, everybody knew what the playoffs were, everybody knew what the rules were. So you can whine all year long, whine all you want to call whoever you want to. That’s the rules we play under”.

Fans had earlier called out that it was unfair of NASCAR to penalize Bell and not take any action against the Chevy lobby. Bell’s penalty came due to the “hail melon” move, which directly falls under safety violations. NASCAR had an in-depth discussion with drivers and then decided this move would lead to penalization. This is exactly what happened with Bell on Sunday after he attempted to drive past the high wall, imitating the “hail melon” move. 

Kyle Petty added that race drivers commonly pass off race wins intentionally, as they are more interested in collecting stage points. Usually, the sponsorship and longevity of a driver come from the point standings, and this is why drivers often behave in such a way. Citing this, Petty said, “We see it during the year. You want to talk about manipulating races, you see it all year long where a guy will win the first segment and win the second segment to get those bonus points, just to give up the win.

“He’s not worried about a race win; he’s just worried about getting his points. Is that manipulation? I don’t know, I’m asking you people.” This remark by Petty hasn’t gone down very well among fans because they think he might be siding with NASCAR. That said, he wasn’t the only one who had an opinion on the controversies in Martinsville.

Denny Hamlin, the owner of one of the teams in question for inter-team collusion, shared his thoughts, too. When addressing this on the Actions Detrimental podcast, Hamlin said, “I don’t know what you do about it. Fine them manufacturer/owner series points. Because the manufacturers really do care about that quite a bit. But we’ve got to do something to reel this back in because it’s happening way, way too often.” On Tuesday, NASCAR did end up penalizing the three teams involved.

The crew chief and spotter for each team (No. 1, No. 3, and No. 23), along with a team executive, has been suspended. Each team and driver has also been docked 50 points and fined $100,000.

Petty chooses a side in light of the Martinsville controversy 

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Kyle Petty took to his X account and shared how blocking is not something that goes against the rule book. Consequently, this hinted that what Byron, Chastain, and Dillon did at Martinsville Speedway did not count as a manipulation for him. On the contrary, he added that there are serious rules against wall climbing in the NASCAR rulebook.

He felt the decision regarding Bell was indeed appropriate. His tweet read, “I’m not arguing tonight because I don’t feel like dealing with some of you honestly. 1st, there is no rule against blocking, and manufacturers have been working together for years! (See Daytona and Talladega) 2nd wall ride is against the rules, that’s a fact. Conversation over.” This particular stunt ensured that Bell lost out on his top 4 position after the points were deducted.

Reacting to the same, Bell said, “I understand that the rule is made to prevent people from riding the wall. But my move was completely different than what Ross’ was. I got loose getting into the corner and slid right into the fence.” After the official decision was announced, Hendrick Motorsports was also informed that because this is a safety violation, one cannot appeal against this decision. What is your take on this controversy?