NASCAR insider: Penalty for Christopher Bell is 'clear cut'

The question coming out of Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway was centered around Christopher Bell and whether or not his wall ride on the final lap warranted a penalty.

NASCAR felt it did, issuing him a safety violation in accordance with the rulebook. Speaking on “The Teardown” podcast, Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic said he felt it was “clear cut” that Bell rode the wall, thus making it an easy call for NASCAR to make.

“When I initially saw it, I was like, ‘Ah, he didn’t hit the wall that hard, he didn’t ride the wall that hard.’ I thought he hit the wall and came off it quick,” Bianchi said. “I went back and watched it a dozen or so times. Very clearly rides the wall off of [Turn] 3 [and] through [Turn] 4. That’s a penalty. Whether he did it intentionally or not, you cannot ride the wall. It’s clear cut on that. He rode the wall.

“It’s really obvious to me when you look at it, it’s a penalty. It’s not about intent, it’s about whether you do it or not. And he clearly rode the wall through the corner and did it. The thing is, he didn’t even need to do it at the time because he was gonna pass Bubba [Wallace] and be fine. But once he rode the wall, he didn’t get off the wall. He rode it all the way through. That is a penalty.”

Elton Sawyer explains decision to penalize Christopher Bell for wall ride at Martinsville

Bell was penalized 27 minutes after the race concluded as NASCAR took its time in making the ruling. Bell, who took the final transfer spot into the Championship 4 at Phoenix next Sunday after passing Wallace courtesy of his “Hail Melon” remake, is now out of the playoffs. Riding the wall became a safety violation after Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville two years ago.

William Byron, whom Bell passed in points to secure the fourth and final spot, is through to the Championship 4, joining Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney. The latter took the checkered flag at Martinsville to clinch his spot at Phoenix.

NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said the decision to penalize Bell was “pretty straightforward.”

“Obviously, we look at all the video,” Sawyer said. “As I back up on that and you go back two years ago when we had the situation with Ross here, we went to Phoenix, there was a lot of dialogue with the drivers that that’s not a move that we wanna have to make on the last lap. We were able to make it through Phoenix and had a great championship race that year.

“In the offseason, meeting with the industry, meeting with our drivers. And to a man, that was not a move they wanna have to make. So, there’s language in the rulebook. And you look at it today, he clearly got up against the fence there in [Turns] 3 and 4 and rode the fence all the way through there. That’s strictly to protect our drivers, as well as our fans. That one’s pretty straightforward.”