Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon radio comments add fuel to controversy of Martinsville finish

Radio communication with Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon‘s teams during the Martinsville race seemingly detailed their plan during the final controversial lap that included a battle between William Bryon and Christopher Bell. Dillon’s team talked about “knowing the deal” and then someone asked “Does the 1 [Chastain] crew chief know the deal? Chastain’s team talked about Byron’s position during the final lap of the race.

NASCAR on TSN shared the radio communication and mentioned that it is “eerily similar to Richmond in 2013 which saw so much controversy.” The Richmond race in 2013 had three teams (Michael Waltrip Racing, Penske Racing and Front Row Motorsports) that were involved in two separate, but intertwined incidents.

Here's the radio communication with the No. 3 team and No. 1 team in the closing laps.

It is eerily similar to Richmond in 2013 that saw so much controversy.#NASCAR #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/Xbty26JCrX

— NASCAR on TSN (@NASCARonTSN) November 3, 2024

Clint Bowyer was involved in the first one, casing a caution with less than two laps remaining in the final race of the regular season. It led to Brian Vickers pitting after a restart so that Martin Truex Jr. would clinch a spot in the playoffs as a wildcard over Ryan Newman. The second incident involved Joey Logano as he earned a playoff berth over Jeff Gordon after passing Front Row’s David Gilliland.

Will NASCAR punish Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon?

Chastain, Dillon and Byron are Chevrolet teammates, so it would make sense for Chastain and Dillon to help Byron get into the Championship 4. But based on what NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer told reporters about Dillon and Chastain’s involvement in the final lap at Martinsville, it looks like their teams won’t be punished.

“The situations going on with 23 (Bubba Wallace) and the cars behind the 24 (William Byron) really have no bearing at this time,” Sawyer said. “We’ll look at those at a later time. When you really just dissect exactly what happened, look at the situation with the 20 (Bell) hitting up against the fence and riding the fence, we clearly stated in our statement after Ross did that would not be accepted.”

Byron clinched the final spot in the championship race because NASCAR penalized Bell for his wall-riding incident during the final lap. It would be fitting for Byron to win the title since he won the Daytona 500 to start the 2024 season.