NASCAR insider reveals expected timeline for appeals after Martinsville penalties handed down

The world of NASCAR was abuzz on Tuesday evening after the organization penalized three teams for violating the code of conduct in the final laps of Sunday’s race at Martinsville.

Immediately the three organizations announced plans to appeal the ruling, which came down on drivers Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace.

23XI Racing, Trackhouse Racing and Richard Childress Racing will all appeal NASCAR’s ruling, which saw each team’s crew chief and spotter, as well as one executive, suspended for this weekend’s race at Phoenix. It also saw the teams fined $100,000 and docked 50 driver points.

FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass notes that NASCAR will likely take an expedited process with the appeals.

“The appeals will be expedited and likely heard this week,” Pockrass noted on Twitter.

That could potentially overturn the suspensions, though the burden will be on the organizations to prove there was no violation of the sport’s code of conduct. That may be difficult.

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 Dillon‘s team made reference to “knowing the deal,” then Dillon and fellow Chevrolet driver 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 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.

Now, though, three other teams are stuck in the mess and will have to try to rely on the appeals process to extricate themselves. Things could move rapidly, too, if Pockrass’ note is any indication.