NASCAR bans Chastain Martinsville wall-ride manoeuvre

Chastain entered the final corner at Martinsville Speedway and simply did not lift, passing five cars, breaking the track record and snatching the hopes of progressing to the final four from Denny Hamlin while riding against the outside wall.

Videos of the move became viral and it was viewed over 100 million times across social media. Having progressed into the battle for the title through his wall-ride, Chastain turned that into a runner-up finish in the championship standings, losing out in the title race to Joey Logano.

NASCAR's new senior vice president of competition, Elton Sawyer, said the change was based on safety considerations. 

Several drivers applauded Chastain for the daring move, but also expressed concerns about its continued legality and the Pandora's box he had now opened.

Among them was Logano, who said last year that there needed to be a rule against it moving forward.

"I mean, it was awesome, it was cool. It happened for the first time," he said then. "There's no rule against it.

"There needs to be a rule against this one because I don't know if you want the whole field riding the wall coming to the checkered flag.

Ross Chastain, TrackHouse Racing, Moose Fraternity Chevrolet Camaro launches his car into the wall to speed around Turn 4 to pass Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing, FedEx Freight Direct Toyota Camry

Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images

"I don't know if it's the safest thing for the driver or the fans when you have a car right up at the wall hauling the mail like that.

"What if that fence, gate, wasn't closed all the way? What if it was bent and caught his car? That's a big risk that Ross was willing to take."

After the race in Martinsville, Chastain said that he had taken inspiration from his youth when racing against his brother on a videogame.

“I played a lot of NASCAR 2005 on the GameCube with [brother] Chad growing up. You can get away with it. I never knew if it would actually work.

“I mean, I did that when I was eight years old. I grabbed fifth gear, asked off of (Turn) 2 on the last lap if we needed it, and we did. I couldn't tell who was leading. I made the choice, grabbed fifth gear down the back. I was fully committed.

“Basically, I let go of the wheel, hoping I didn’t catch the Turn 4 access gate or something crazy. But I was willing to do it.