NASCAR: Ross Chastain rides wall to championship shot; btw, Christopher Bell wins again

Ross the Boss!

My goodness.

Christopher Bell, for the second time in a month, won when he absolutely had to win in order to keep his championship hopes alive. And had to run through the pack to make it happen after a late-race round of pit stops.

Pretty dramatic stuff.

But all anyone is talking about is Ross Chastain, previously known as the world’s fastest watermelon farmer.

More: Watch Alva's Ross Chastain make one of the wildest moves in NASCAR history to reach final race

More: HEY, WILLIE! Chastain's Indy detour was worthy of your 'Smokey and the Bandit' treatment

Now he’s known as the world's most daring wallflower, the guy who took a move reserved for video games and brought it to real life in real time.

As the days, weeks and maybe even months progress, there will be talk about how Chastain’s playoff-saving maneuver fits within the spirit of competitive norms, and whether it might need to be outlawed — it is rather dangerous, when you get beyond the dramatics of it all. But for now . . .

For now . . .

Wow!

That’s all you can say.

First Gear: Christopher Bell is 2022's Mr. October

Let’s get the big-picture stuff out of the way.

Christopher Bell won at Martinsville to earn one of four chances for the Cup championship this coming weekend at Phoenix. He was leading and cruising when a late caution came out, and while we were yelling — as we do here — to stay out and keep the lead rather than pitting for fresh tires, Bell came down and took on new Goodyears.

It looked like a dicey decision for a while, but some pushing and shoving ahead of him gave Bell the opportunity to chase down Chase Briscoe (another win-or-else playoff driver) and snatch the lead (and eventual the win) from him.

Bell now heads to Phoenix among a Final Four that also includes Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and . . . have we mentioned Ross Chastain yet?

Chastain’s last-lap theatrics not only earned him a spot among the four championship hopefuls, it cemented his place in highlight reels for years to come.

Was it unconventional? Absolutely. Was it popular among the onlookers? You bet. Was it legal? Yep — for now, anyway. Was it universally applauded by his peers? Not quite.

Let’s review.

Second Gear: Desperate times, desperate measures for Ross Chastain

On the last lap, Chastain was two spots behind Hamlin for the final playoff spot but wasn’t very close to the cars in front of him. He was a desperate man in need of picking off those in front of him to gain points.

At the end of the backstretch, he simply (simply?) tucked his Chevy against the outside wall and floored it, using the wall as leverage and, literally, as a prop. The wall kept him pointed forward as he zipped around the outside of traffic so quickly, it looked quite comical — like a piece of video sped up for effect.

Give a nod to the Next Gen car, which has gotten plenty of shaky reviews of late. The new car's stiffness has its apparent downsides, but its resiliency was on full display as Chastain flogged it over that final half-lap.

Chastain, looking to be in disbelief in the aftermath, said the move was something he’d only tried as a kid in an old video racing game, "NASCAR 2005."

"Played a lot of NASCAR 2005 on the GameCube,” he said. “I never knew if it actually worked. I did that when I was 8.

"I grabbed fifth gear down the back and fully committed. When I committed, I had no idea if it would work.”

He went from 10th to fifth with that dash, and his lap speed wasn’t just the race’s fastest, but nearly a second faster than Larson’s Saturday pole speed. That’s a lot on a flat half-mile track.

But while legal, was it proper?

Kyle Larson called it “embarrassing.” Chase Briscoe suggested, “maybe it’s something to look at going into next year with the rulebook” while also saying “we could have all done it, we just didn’t do it.”

This is something that can likely only be done on a short track like Martinsville, maybe Richmond, and definitely in the Busch Clash at the L.A. Coliseum and next year’s All Star Race at North Wilkesboro.

Is it something that needs to be addressed? Oh, it will be. But should it be prohibited? Not if the fans have anything to say about it.

Third Gear: Denny Hamlin waits another year

Back to Denny Hamlin.

Denny, Denny, Denny. My goodness.

If someone had to be fully victimized by Chastain’s Move Of The Century, Hamlin is a fitting choice and that’s not meant to be a shot at Denny, just a nod to the facts.

Mark Martin is generally considered the best NASCAR racer to never win a championship (among racers who actually raced full-time for the championship). He had 40 career wins, was championship runner-up five times, finished third four times.

Denny has more career wins — 48 — with one runner-up championship finish and three third-place finishes, though Martin and Hamlin competed in very different championship formats.

As the dust was clearing Sunday at Martinsville, with Bell cruising to his make-or-break victory, Hamlin was sitting inside the championship four, based on points standings. Another title shot was awaiting.

Then came The Boss.

Hamlin didn’t diminish Chastain’s Hail Mary, but was somewhat speechless.

“Great move, brilliant,” he said. “When you have no other choice, it’s easy to do that. But well-executed.”

Fourth Gear: Trucks, Xfinity also teed up; Ty Gibbs puts on the black hat

It’s not just the Cup Series championship that will be decided this weekend at Phoenix. It’s called “Championship Weekend” for a reason, you know.

Friday night, we’ll crown the 2022 Truck Series champ. The four fellas with a shot: Ty Majeski, Zane Smith, Chandler Smith and Ben Rhodes, who happens to be the defending champ. You might want to get a nap Friday afternoon, since that race doesn’t start until 10 p.m. (Eastern) on Fox Sports 1.

But it’s Saturday evening’s Xfinity Series finale that’s truly worth a look, because there’s some very bad blood brewing down there in NASCAR’s Triple-A baseball. And it involves Ty Gibbs, grandson of Joe and next year’s replacement for Kyle Busch in the Cup Series’ No 18 Toyota.

As it looks right now, it seems the No. 18 car will remain a lightning rod until further notice. Rarely does a Saturday Xfinity race garner so much emotion from the crowd, but Gibbs might have collected more boos than any racer this year following his take-no-prisoners move Saturday at Martinsville.

Not only did he blatantly ram the race leader on the final lap to “inherit” the lead and the win, it turns out that leader was his Gibbs Racing teammate, Brandon Jones, who’s leaving the team after this season to join Junior Earnhardt’s Xfinity organization.

You know what that means, right? Brandon had no qualms about unloading on Ty afterward.

“Lost all respect today,” he said. “I know a lot of guys have.”

Also, after Saturday at Martinsville on pit road, Austin Hill delivered a haymaker to fellow driver Myatt Snider. The video evidence is a little fuzzy and distant, but let’s just say he apparently connected.

Oh, by the way, the final four for Xfinity glory: Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, Josh Berry and Noah Gragson.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Ross Chastain wins the day as Christopher Bell wins the race | NASCAR