A beaten Joe Gibbs was sighted walking past the team haulers in Martinsville after the Xfinity 500 on Sunday. When reporters approached him with questions, he told them that NASCAR had refused to let him appeal the decision to cut his driver Christopher Bell from the Championship 4 for riding the wall in the final moments of the race and violating a safety regulation.
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His words generated heated discussions on social media and many pointed the finger at him for submitting to the promotion in charter agreement negotiation. They believed that he had inadvertently given more power over himself to the promotion and that it was now coming back to bite him. But is there a valid reason for NASCAR not allowing him to appeal?
The Senior Vice President of competition, Elton Sawyer, answered in the post-race press conference. He said, “It’s a race violation. Race violation, you don’t protest them. It’s not appealable, I should say. No different than an uncontrolled tire or too many men over the wall or anything like that.”
Riding the wall was made illegal back in 2022 when Ross Chastain did it to pass a significant number of cars. But unlike him, Bell had not made the move intentionally. A fellow Toyota racer, Bubba Wallace, had lost a tire and slowed down. Coming up hot behind him, Bell lost control and slid into the fence.
From there, he saw no point in letting the throttle go and raced to the finish line clinging to the wall. But Sawyer made it clear that intentions did not matter and that decisions cannot be made based on them.
Why did Sawyer refuse to hear a reason for riding the wall?
He added, “We looked at the data. We looked at the video. We’ve been very clear based off our conversations with our industry, based off that move two years ago, that that would not be tolerated.”
Notably, Bell had contended after the race that he did not make the move on purpose and that he did not put anyone at risk by doing it. Sawyer’s words must have provided him a tad bit of closure.
The No. 20 driver failed to make the final four for the third consecutive year because of this verdict. Meanwhile, Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron took the final transfer spot in his place while Team Penske driver Ryan Blaney won the race. Both will join Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick in Phoenix to battle for the 2024 Cup Series championship.
Coach Gibbs, in the meanwhile, has no option but to rethink his choice to sign a fresh charter deal with NASCAR. 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports are waiting on the other end of the field, with open arms and an antitrust lawsuit against the promotion, to welcome him. Will he join them? The story will continue to be written.
