Gibbs Moves Teammate, Bell Scores Walk-off, Chastain Makes Move of the Century: Martinsville Recap

The second to last race weekend of the NASCAR season took place at the famous paperclip-shaped track, Martinsville Speedway. The NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series went in with their elimination races, and ready to set the four drivers who would run for a championship next week in Phoenix. Both races had their share of insanity too.

With the Xfinity Series, it came down to a battle of Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Brandon Jones, and Ty Gibbs. Gibbs earned himself a spot in the Championship 4 no matter what, earlier on in the race. Jones on the other hand was in a must-win situation. Near the end, Jones was in contention to win the race despite the constant cautions. He and Gibbs exchanged moments of contact, moving one of the way, and finally, in the final restart, Gibbs showed no mercy as he bumped into the back of Brandon Jones, turning Jones on the final lap heading into turn one, giving Gibbs the win. This move was met with many “boos” from the crowd and criticism from many, including from the Cup Series level.

“It was definitely not a clean move, for sure,” Gibbs said. “I definitely didn’t want to wreck him, but I definitely wanted to move him out of the groove so I could go win. I felt like we lost the spring race getting moved by him.

“He’s my teammate, but definitely want to get the win here. It’s important to get the win. And now we’re going to the championship. It’s cool. Hopefully, I don’t get hit by any cans or anything right here.

“We got moved out of the way earlier this year, so it’s part of it.”

Jones, who will drive for Jr Motorsports next season, won the pole and led 98 laps with a 23^rd place finish, as he was comforted by his girlfriend after the race.

“I know Ty enough to where I know he doesn’t care about what he did,” said Jones. “He’s pretty much, well — he wasn’t ‘pretty much’ — he was locked into the next round. So really, what did that do?

“I don’t really understand the move. I understand trying to get aggressive — you want to win the race. But to just destroy the race car, I don’t see it. I don’t get any satisfaction from it. Maybe he does. Maybe he likes to win that way? But I never have and never felt strong about racing that way. So, we’ll just take it and go for it.”

Thanks to Gibbs bumping his soon-to-be-ex teammate out of the way, this benefited Justin Allgaier, who got the last spot of the Championship 4 and will join Gibbs, Noah Gragson, and Josh Berry to compete for the championship next week. He finished fourth, edging to get the last spot over AJ Allmendinger, who finished 16^th after contact with Allgaier that resulted in a cut tire. Allmendinger went to congratulate Allgaier after the race.

“I can’t even describe it,” Allgaier said. “It’s disappointing that it’s gotten to the point where it’s — unfortunately, easier to drive through somebody than it is to pass them. Really proud of our team. We never gave up until the checkered flag fell. Had a ton of damage right there (from a collision on Lap 262 in the second overtime) but made it to the final round.”

“You get down to the end, (Allmendinger) was pushing pretty hard,” Allgaier said. “He chose to run into us enough times that you get to the point where you have to go for it. He knew when he turned back left that we were going to hit.”

Allmendinger was eliminated along with Brandon Jones, Austin Hill, and Sam Mayer.

Moving over to the NASCAR Cup Series race, was a race that ended in a way that was never seen before.

Christopher Bell was in a similar situation that he was in during the elimination race of the Round of 12, in which ended in him getting a walk-off win at the Charlotte Roval that advanced him to the Round of 8. He did the same again on Sunday at Martinsville, dominating the second half of the race.

“Mom and dad, we did it — wow,” an emotional Bell said after the race. “I can’t believe it, man. To come here in Martinsville, this place has always been so tough on me. Just pre-race looking up, seeing all the fans, this place is packed… I don’t even know what to say.

“Man, I say it all the time, but the driver is just a small piece of the puzzle for these races. The reason why this car won today is because it was the best car on the racetrack. Adam Stevens… this entire 20 group, they just never give up. When our back is against the wall, looks like it’s over, they show up and give me the fastest car out here.”

Joey Logano had already clinched a spot with a win at Las Vegas and Chase Elliott finished 10^th to secure the final spot by four points over Denny Hamlin. That is because of a move that was never seen before by Ross Chastain, who also made his way into the Championship 4 when on the final lap, he put his No. 1 Chevrolet into fifth gear and pinned the outside wall, riding along the wall in turns three and four like he had a mushroom boost in Mario Kart. This move is what put Chastain into the Championship 4 with Trackhouse Racing, in the team’s second season.

“I made the choice, grabbed fifth gear down the back,” Chastain said. “Fully committed. Basically 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.

“I just cannot believe that we have a chance to go fight for a championship. All we ask for is a chance. We kept our world small this year so far. We’ll do the same thing going to Phoenix.”

Chase Briscoe was one of the four eliminated, but also put up a good fight. Briscoe stayed out on old tires during the final caution and restarted in the lead with 24 laps left, but was passed by Christopher Bell, who had fresher tires with five laps to go.

“Yeah, we were obviously on a lot older tires there,” Briscoe said. “Thought there for a little bit I was going to be OK. I just fell off a cliff pretty hard. I should have used the wall. Pretty good deal to use there.”

Ryan Blaney, William Byron, and Denny Hamlin were also eliminated after the race.

Hamlin won both stages in the race but lost positions on three consecutive pit stops in the final stage of the race. He restarted in 13^th, just right behind Chastain with 30 laps left in the race.

“You got to execute all day,” Hamlin said. “We just didn’t control the race when we had control of it. With each caution, we just kept losing some spots. That’s the way it is.”

Brad Keselowski originally finished fourth, but his No. 6 RFK Racing Ford was disqualified in a post-race technical inspection for not meeting the minimum weight requirements per NASCAR Rule Book Section 14.11.2, resulting in a last-place finish.

The season concludes next week at Phoenix Raceway where champions will be crowned for the Truck Series, Xfinity Series, and Cup Series.