Full NASCAR penalty report after weekend at Martinsville Speedway

It was an eventful weekend in NASCAR as the playoffs continued at Martinsville, and there were a significant number of incidents that wound their way onto the penalty report coming out of the weekend.

The Cup Series saw Kyle Busch penalized for losing a wheel on the track. With that penalty, crew members Josh Sobecki (jack) and Michael Russell (front changer) were suspended for two races.

That was far from the biggest infraction on the penalty report, though.

In the Cup Series, the teams for Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace all had their crew chief and spotter suspended, as well as a team executive, for violating the NASCAR member code of conduct. The suspension will be effective for the final race at Phoenix. Meanwhile, each team was fined $100,000 and docked 50 driver points.

NASCAR also fined Chandler Smith $10,000 on the penalty report for slapping Cole Custer post-race in the Xfinity Series.

Meanwhile, Truck Series driver Ty Majeski was fined $12,500 for missing Tuesday’s Championship 4 production and media day with broadcast partners.

Controversial Cup Series finish at Martinsville

Penalty report aside, the finish at Martinsville made for some extremely compelling racing… and quite a bit of controversy.

The final lap came down with two drivers jockeying for the final position in the Championship 4, with William Byron sporting a narrow +1 over Christopher Bell‘s -1. Both were putting the pedal to the medal trying to reach the finish line.

But while Byron was losing stream on the field, Bell was gaining it. That’s where the controversy kicked in.

The radio communications from Austin Dillon‘s team made reference to “knowing the deal,” then Dillon and fellow Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain appeared to block up the track behind Byron so he wouldn’t lose any more position. Byron is also a Chevrolet driver.

On the other side, Bell made a remarkably easy pass on Bubba Wallace, who appeared to slow down considerably. Wallace said after the race that he felt like he had a tire going down.

Still, it called into question the potential ethics behind teams working together.

As it happened, Bell got a little loose into the final turn and rode the wall hard while in the gas, flinging him into position to tie Byron on points and, at least temporarily, securing the final playoff spot.

It wouldn’t hold, though, as NASCAR assessed a safety violation for the wall ride, sending Bell back to P22 and giving Byron the pass through to the Championship 4 on points.