Elton Sawyer: NASCAR considered suspending drivers for Martinsville race manipulation

In the wake of a stiff penalty from NASCAR to the teams of Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace stemming from the finish to Sunday’s race at Martinsville, NASCAR made it clear that driver suspensions could follow in the future.

None of the drivers received a suspension this time around.

But NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer made it clear that’ll be on the table in future instances of perceived manipulation.

“In this case we felt like we wanted to focus more on the team leadership, something we haven’t done in the past,” Sawyer said, according to FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass. “But I promise you that does not exclude (drivers) going forward. And we have meetings coming up this week with our drivers, and we will get that point across to them and be very clear that when you do anything that’s going to compromise the integrity of our sport, we are going to react.”

As it stands, NASCAR issued a suspension to the crew chief and spotter, as well as one team executive, for each of the three teams under the microscope.

Each team was also fined $100,000 and docked 50 driver points.

That’s a stiff penalty, to be sure. But a driver suspension, which apparently is now possible in the future, would certainly be an even bigger shot across the bow.

And it might be needed after Sunday’s finish in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Accusations of teaming and collusion flew in the wake of the final lap.

On the one hand, the Chevrolet drivers Dillon and Chastain appeared to block for fellow Chevrolet driver William Byron. Byron was attempting to hold onto a narrow points lead over Christopher Bell down the stretch, while his car was struggling to keep up with the field.

On the other hand, Bell seemed to take advantage of a remarkably easy pass on fellow Toyota driver Wallace in the final lap. Wallace later said that he felt like he had a tire going down on the lap, thus his rapid deceleration.

In the end, a safety violation for riding the wall ruined Bell’s night and sent Byron through to the Championship 4. But certainly not without controversy for NASCAR.