NASCAR has decided to ban Ross Chastain's now famous wall-ride maneuver, which secured him a place in the Championship 4.
It will be illegal at all types of tracks. NASCAR's new Senior Vice President of competition, Elton Sawyer, said the change was based on safety considerations.
NASCAR issued the following update to teams this week regarding the Chastain move:
"NASCAR will deem any future use of that maneuver as unsafe per Section 10.5.2.6.A of the NASCAR Rule Book. To ensure that our competitors do not employ strategies that may compromise the safety of themselves, other competitors or fans, NASCAR will issue a time penalty to any vehicle that attempts an unsafe maneuver such as the one performed at Martinsville.
"This is not a new rule. The safety language has existed in the rule book, and following Martinsville, we evaluated it, and chose to officiate consistently for the final race of 2022. Since the end of the season, we have worked with the drivers and teams to discuss the best way to officiate/interpret the rule for 2023, and we believe this is the right interpretation for the safety of our competitors moving forward."
Chastain entered the final corner at Martinsville Speedway and simply did not lift, passing five cars, breaking the track record and taking the final transfer spot from Denny Hamlin while riding against the outside wall.
The move shocked the world and was viewed over 100 million times across social media. Chastain parlayed the wall-ride into a runner-up finish in the championship standings, losing out in the title race to Joey Logano.
Several drivers applauded Chastain for the daring move, but also expressed concerns about its continued legality and the Pandora's box he had now opened.
Among them was Logano, who said last year that there needed to be a rule against it moving forward.
"I mean, it was awesome, it was cool. It happened for the first time," he said then. "There's no rule against it. There needs to be a rule against this one because I don't know if you want the whole field riding the wall coming to the checkered flag. I don't know if it's the safest thing for the driver or the fans when you have a car right up at the wall hauling the mail like that. What if that fence, gate, wasn't closed all the way? What if it was bent and caught his car? That's a big risk that Ross was willing to take."
