The penultimate playoff round of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series will serve as a reminder that motorsport has and will always be operating outside the spirit of the regulations. With many questionable antics played by drivers and teams alike, one radio message stood out that could have sinister undertones in the context of fans voicing their outrage about the Martinsville weekend.
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To begin things off, a poorly coordinated ‘wall-riding’ attempt between Bubba Wallace and fellow Toyota driver, Christoper Bell led to the latte being disqualified from the playoffs. Further behind the pack, team Chevy was in full swing to get one of their cars into the Championship 4.
While the talk of the town has been Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon’s team effort to get the #24 William Byron into the final rounds of the playoff, their Chevy compatriot, Shane van Gisbergen’s radio outtakes have been doing the rounds of social media lately.
“Don’t forget what the No. 12 [Blaney] did to you earlier… that’s a message from Chevrolet”#NASCAR
— Joseph Srigley (@joe_srigley) November 4, 2024
van Gisbergen’s crew chief can be heard delivering a very pointed message to him about Ryan Blaney. He said, “Don’t forget what the No. 12 [Blaney] did to you earlier… that’s a message from Chevrolet.”
This can be seen as a signal for the #97 Chevy driver to wreck the #12 Ford of Blaney — who went on to eventually win the 500-lap event at Martinsville. This came after Blaney was accused of intentionally trying to wreck van Gisbergen himself.
What stands out about this little communication is the fact that it would appear that a manufacturer is deliberately trying to manipulate the results of a competing brand to edge their chances of a final-four playoff spot.
This ties in perfectly with all the flak that NASCAR has been catching from fans and the sport’s icons on social media for the blatant disregard of the regulations. NASCAR themselves have contended that they will review a whole host of radio chatter early next week. The results of this investigation could cause a major shockwave in the American Stock Car racing industry.
