Ross Chastain’s qualification into the 2022 Championship 4 came in the most dramatic fashion seen in motorsports history. The Trackhouse Racing star pulled a video game in the final moments of the race in Martinsville by riding the wall and put himself through to the season finale in Phoenix. Over a year later, his contenders have now looked back at the memory and voiced their thoughts before heading to the short track for the next Cup Series race.
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Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron expressed his admiration by ruling it a “big brain move”. Defending champion Ryan Blaney said to NBC Sports, “It looked fake. It looks like someone fast-forwarded his car and left everyone else the same. It was just the craziest thing to me.” Joe Gibbs Racing star Martin Truex Jr. mentioned that it looked like Chastain was going at a million miles per hour at that moment.
Kyle Larson said, “That part is crazy and it takes balls and imagination for sure.” Two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano continued that it was pretty amazing for him to be seeing a move like that pulled off in front of him. He quipped, “I am glad they made a rule that we can’t do that anymore. Because I don’t wanna have to do that.” Chastain himself said that he didn’t know how the move ended up working.
What forced Chastain to pull off one of the most dramatic moves in NASCAR history?
The move that is now popularly termed “Hail Melon” came in the penultimate race of the 2022 season. Chastain looked set for elimination in the late moments of the race in Martinsville as Christopher Bell cruised toward victory. The Trackhouse Racing driver needed two more points towards the end of the race to proceed to the finale and it did not look possible to gain them at that stage of the race.
As Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin looked set to occupy the final two spots in Championship 4, Chastain did the unthinkable in the final lap. With the pack turning through Turns 3 and 4, every driver downshifted and braked. But Chastain shifted up and stood on his throttle, pushing his car to the track’s wall. He ground against the wall’s curvature and flew past five cars in total to draw ahead of Denny Hamlin before crossing the checkered flag.
A stunned Hamlin was eliminated for the championship race and Chastain took his spot. As the Cup Series grid returns to Martinsville this Sunday, all minds in NASCAR will go back to that memorable race and the insane move from the watermelon farmer.
