Denny Hamlin: NASCAR 'made the right call' at Martinsville

Denny Hamlin said on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast he believes NASCAR “made the right call” in penalizing Christopher Bell for riding the wall on the final lap of Sunday’s Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Hamlin added that the wall ride portion of Bell’s pass of Bubba Wallace wasn’t necessary but came from a place of panic in his eyes.

“In the end, I think they made the right call,” Hamlin said. “I don’t like it, but they wanted to avoid us wall riding on last laps to either gain or defend positions. C Bell didn’t have to do it. I think there was probably a little bit of panic in the moment because he just shipped it into Turn 3 to try to get past the 23 [Wallace] in a panic because the 23 has issues or is falling back the last few laps. He sees him, he catches him quickly, he knows he needs his spot.

“So, he drives in there really deep, washes, gets out of control, gets in the marbles… and then C Bell hits the wall. And in a panic situation there, he just guns it and tries to get to the line as quick as he can, where I think he would have been fine if he just glanced off of it and pulled it down. It was not going to be easy to pull down. He would have had to have stopped or come close it, and then accelerate off the corner, but I think it was the continuous wall contact that they deemed inappropriate.”

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.

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. 

NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said that the decision to penalize Bell was “pretty straightforward” in accordance with the rulebook. Riding the wall became a safety violation after Ross Chastain’s “Hail Melon” move at Martinsville two years ago.

“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 [Chastain] 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.”