NASCAR DAILY NEWS: NASCAR World Reacts to Ross Chastain Mega Deal with legendary Wall-Riding Sponsors

Ross Chastain qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series championship race with an amazing wall-riding move on the final lap at Martinsville.

Chastain advanced from tenth to fifth place on the final lap of the race by purposefully driving into the wall at full speed. He accelerated against the wall through Turns 3 and 4 and passed five cars, giving him a chance to win the 2022 Cup Series championship in the winner-take-all race in Phoenix on November 6.
Christopher Bell won the race, advancing to the final four alongside Chastain, Joey Logano, and Chase Elliott. Denny Hamlin, who had been a consistent title candidate, was eliminated by Chastain’s closing lap move. Until the last two corners, Hamlin was in the final four, ahead of Chastain on points.

Millennials may recall that what Chastain accomplished was the preferred method of winning a race at Martinsville on EA Sports’ NASCAR video games in the early 2000s when the car damage was disabled. Chastain also mentioned those video games as he came out of his automobile.

“Played a lot of NASCAR 05 on the Gamecube with [brother] Chad growing up and you can get away with it,” added Chastain. “I didn’t know if it would work. “I did that when I was eight years old.”

Here’s how it appeared from inside Chastain’s car.
Hamlin may have had the best car during Sunday’s race. He led 203 of the race’s 500 laps, but lost positions on pit road during the race’s final three cautions. If Hamlin’s pit crew had held serve, he might not have been in a position to be caught off guard by Chastain’s video game manoeuvre.
Hamlin may have had the best car during Sunday’s race. He led 203 of the race’s 500 laps, but lost positions on pit road during the race’s final three cautions. If Hamlin’s pit crew had held serve, he might not have been in a position to be caught off guard by Chastain’s video game manoeuvre.

“You gotta execute all day and we just didn’t control the race when we had control of it,” Hamlin stated. “Each caution we just kept losing some spots.”

Chastain’s lap time on the final lap was approximately two seconds quicker than Bell’s. Bell completed a lap in 20.512 seconds, while Chastain finished in 18.845 seconds, riding the wall in the final two turns.