Drivers Glad NASCAR Outlawed Ross Chastain’s ‘Hail Melon’ Move

One year ago, Ross Chastain shocked the racing community on the final lap at Martinsville Speedway by using a video move to advance into the Cup Series championship round.

NASCAR quickly outlawed the move – riding the outside wall at full speed – and several drivers say they’re glad the sanctioning body made it illegal because they would try it on Sunday if necessary.

“Who wouldn’t for 10 spots or what it was,” Martin Truex Jr. says.

Denny Hamlin says he would consider the move that knocked him out of last year’s title round if he could, because other drivers would.

“It wouldn’t be pretty, because everyone knows the big advantage that you get,” Hamlin says. “You would just have 36 trashed cars at the end of the race. Maybe it would be exciting if everyone did it one time, but it needs to live in history.”

Chastain says that even now when he watches video of the move he still feels “disbelief.”

“I can’t believe what I’m watching, still, when I see it,” Chastain says. “When I see … the data on it, it doesn’t seem real.”

Chastain said the team finally got the actual wheels back on the car, which was on display this weekend in Martinsville Speedway’s fan zone.

“I guess most of the suspension stayed,” Chastain says. “It was just kind of hanging there. The right-front upper is broken and a lot of stuff is bent. The front and rear clip are bent, the best we can tell.”