Ross Chastain Reacts to NASCAR Banning His Famous “Hail Melon” Maneuver at Martinsville
Ross Chastain, driver of No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro shared his views recently on NASCAR banning Ross Chastain’s famous wall-ride maneuver at Martinsville. ‘Hail Melon.’
Chastain pushed his car into fifth gear during the last lap at Martinsville Speedway’s Xfinity 500 last year. Then he hit the gas and raced around the track to finish in fifth. After Brad Keselowski was disqualified by NASCAR for not meeting weight standards, Chastain would be promoted to the top spot.
Chastain won five spots, passing Chase Briscoe (Bubba Wallace), Joey Logano (William Byron), and Denny Hamlin. With a lap time in Martinsville of 18.845 seconds, he also set a new track record. The previous record was 18.954 second.
Have a look at this wild move:
Here’s another angle:
This doesn’t even look real 😳
Ross fan @caleb_matthew21 captured it perfectly…we all had the same reaction!
— Trackhouse Racing (@TeamTrackhouse) October 31, 2022
NASCAR announced as part of a number of rule changes for the upcoming 2023 season that the move was banned. However, they didn’t add any new language or create a new rule rather they will enforce NASCAR rule 10.5.2.6.A to ban the move.
The league explained, “ASCAR will not add new language to the rule book but instead point to rule 10.5.2.6.A, which states: “Safety is a top priority for NASCAR and NEM (NASCAR Event Management). Therefore, any violations deemed to compromise the safety of an Event or otherwise pose a dangerous risk to the safety of Competitors, Officials, spectators, or others are treated with the highest degree of seriousness. Safety violations will be handled on a case-by-case basis.”
RELATED: Joey Logano Reacts To Ross Chastain’s Wall-Ride Move, Calls For NASCAR To Outlaw It
NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer also added, “Basically, if there’s an act that we feel that compromises the safety of our competitors, officials, spectators, we’re going to take that seriously. And we will penalize for that act going forward.”
Sawyer added, “Basically, what it would be is a lap or time penalty at the end of the race, so that move at Martinsville would be a penalty.”
Chastain reacted to the ban while speaking with TMZ Sports saying, “I’m good with it.”
He added, “I’m proud that I’ve got a rule named after me. They didn’t actually write a new rule, they’re just going to enforce a current rule that just says be safe, don’t hit the wall and be unsafe. So I take it as a badge of honor.”
He continued, “I want my crew chief and my engineers and my mechanics pushing the limits of the car. I don’t want to break the rules, but I want them to have to write new rules and explain things more clearly where we might find a gray area on the car. And then on the track I want to do the same thing.”
“That’s actually the second time last year that we’ve had a rule made about us,” he pointed out. “Earlier in the year at Indianapolis I took an access road that was allowed, but you shouldn’t be able to make up time on the leader, and I did, and I almost won the race doing it. And so they said no to that and they’re going to rewrite that access road and the whole shape of it is.”
Chastain then reiterated, “So I’m proud that I was able to exploit that and a split second decision to ride the wall at Martinsville.”
He then concluded, “I don’t want to do it again. I don’t want to see guys doing it. And I’m proud that now I’ll be the first and last guy to successfully to do it.”
What do you make of Chastain’s comments about NASCAR banning the move? What do you make of the move being banned by NASCAR?
NEXT: Chase Briscoe Attempts To Recreate Ross Chastain’s Wild Wall-Ride Move, Fails Spectacularly
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