Not really doing much to put the controversy to bed.
NASCAR was at Talladega this weekend for what should have been one of the most exciting races of the season, but the race ended up being surrounded in controversy after an electric finish.
It was the third to last race of the season, with four drivers entering this weekend with a realistic chance at winning the championship including Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe.
Ahead of the race, it was reported that Chevrolet had instructed their teams to assist Larson during the race, as the only Chevy remaining with a shot at the championship.
And on the final restart, which came with just two laps to go following a massive crash with six laps to go, it looked like Larson was going to have it wrapped up as he was leading on the final lap – until Austin Hill jumped to the bottom of the track and brought the rest of the line with him, leaving Larson in the middle with no help and sinking through the field.
Larson dropped back to 11th, but managed to get hooked up with fellow Chevy driver Ross Chastain, whowho hooked onto his back bumper and pushed the #5 car from 11th to first in the final corner to take the win.
It was the wildest thing I’ve ever seen.
While it was an incredible finish, the report from before the race that Chevy had instructed their teams to help out Larson made some think that the leaders of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and William Byron had slowed down or otherwise blocked for Larson instead of trying to win the race themselves, though both denied it and, according to NASCAR, data shows that everybody was full throttle the entire time.
But other fans were confused as to why Larson wasn’t penalized for going below the double yellow line to make a pass as he was making his way through the field.
At superspeedways, NASCAR prohibits cars from going bellow the yellow line to make a pass, a rule that’s resulted in penalties in the past – including for Justin Haley, who was stripped of an Xfinity Series win back in 2018 for going below the yellow line to pass at Daytona.
So why was Haley stripped of his win but Larson wasn’t? Well NASCAR attempted to clarify their ruling after the race, claiming that Larson still had part of his tire on the line, so it wasn’t a penalty.
According to the NASCAR rulebook, section 8.7.2(a):
“• Vehicles must compete above the double painted lines at all times.
• Passing below the double painted lines to advance position will result in a black flag.
• Forcing another vehicle below the double painted lines to block a pass may result in a black flag.
• “Below the double painted lines” is defined as when the vehicle’s left side tires are below the left line of the inside double painted lines that separates the apron from the racing surface.”
Note that the rule doesn’t say anything about having the ENTIRE tire below the double yellow line – only that the vehicle’s left side tires must be below the line to be a penalty.
Because of this confusion in the rule book, as well as NASCAR seemingly officiating the rule differently on a case by case basis, it doesn’t appear that their explanation for the lack of a penalty is sitting well with fans:
Regardless, with the win Larson is now 73 points ahead of Denny Hamlin with just two races left in the season, and could very easily clinch his third championship next weekend with one race still remaining.
It’s just a shame that so much happened to overshadow what should have been an instant classic finish for one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers.
