At Martinsville on November 3rd, 2024, three drivers, including the No. 1 Chevy Camaro ZL1 of Ross Chastain and the No. 3 Camaro of Austin Dillon, manipulated the race in favor of fellow Bow Tie racer, William Byron. Since NASCAR doesn’t currently have rules to penalize manufacturers, it cracked down on Chastain, Dillon, Bubba Wallace, and their teams – Trackhouse Racing, Richard Childress Racing (RCR), and Toyota team 23XI Racing. However, this may change in 2025, as the sanctioning body has proposed new guidelines that will allow for manufacturer-specific penalties.
In NASCAR’s State of the Sport address from Phoenix Raceway on November 8th, executives explained that the proposed rule will allow the sanctioning body to hand penalties to the OEMs that compete in NASCAR. Reviewing in-car audio from Martinsville revealed that the Chevy teams were instructed to block for Byron to ensure his No. 24 Camaro would make it to the Championship 4. Chastain and Dillon were told to stick with “the plan” in the closing laps and refused to pass Byron while driving two-wide to prevent competitors from overtaking him.
“What I saw in Martinsville pissed me off, and it pissed everyone off at NASCAR,” said NASCAR Chief Operating Officer, Steve O’Donnell. “Because we all know better, and we know what happened.”
He added, “We had a call with our OEMs where we were very clear about our intentions going forward. Do we have a rule right now where we could do something? We don’t. Will we have a rule next year? 1,000 percent. And they’re aware if anything happens this weekend, which it won’t, we will react.”
Perhaps the most damning evidence against Chevy didn’t even involve one of the penalized drivers. Shane Van Gisbergen, who was behind the wheel of the No. 16 Camaro, was told to remember that eventual Martinsville winner Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Ford Mustang Dark Horse, had slammed into him earlier in the race.
“Now don’t forget what the 12 did to you earlier, all right?” Van Gisbergen’s spotter told him. “That’s a message from Chevrolet.”
It’s also worth noting that Byron failed to secure the 2024 title, finishing third in the championship race as Joey Logano’s Ford went on to win.
Comments
This is going to be a nightmare to police if you ask me………..
Why does Chevy even care? They run a discontinued car in the series. They’re pushing an EV agenda that has no room for ICE-powered muscle cars. They’re certainly not “winning on Sunday/ selling on Monday” at this stage. Either we’ve got a big surprise coming before the ’26 season, or the bowtie should just bow-out…
Nascar , needs to revamp the whole system. Whoever wins the most races and the season Champion should be in the final 6 not 4. Also the championship track should change every year . You will never stop the manufacturers from sticking together. They all do it. The current system sucks . The real question is how is it that Ford couldn’t get out of their own way for the first half of the season and then Stewart Hauss calls it quits and lo and behold the Fords start winning. Did Penske threaten them? Also, strange how Penske has the most $ and has won 3 championships in a row and yet Chevrolet wins by far the majority of the races (manufacturers cup) and Toyo wins the regular season championship and Ford wins the drivers championship . -3 years in a row ! Should let the teams bring what they build but then Chevrolet would win every race -cant have that!
I do agree that the championship track should be changed every year. But I want to know why you think SHR was threatened by Penske? That doesn’t make any sense. And the teams DO bring what they build. That’s why Hendrick wins a bunch and Rick Ware doesn’t.
Do away with the spotters and put mirrors back in the cars. Just old fashion me against everyone. That would bring experience back in the picture and leave us with some real grit men racing instead of a bunch of rich punks who cry every time someone trades some paint with them. Speaking of banging enough with just focusing on how fast these cars can go and put some real metal back into these beer can bodied junks. My god build a little toughness into these cars and lower the speeds so that the tires are as delicate as the tubes on my old schwinn20” banana seat bike. Bring back more dirt track racing and make them race without all of the babysitting over the radio. That’s what real racing is all about Charlie Brown!
Do… do you really think race cars don’t have mirrors
Good points!
I would like to a Cup race, 50, 75, or 100 laps with only one car from each team, no spotter and no unnecessary Pit chatter.
I miss the old days where the driver worked on his car and towed it to the track. they didn’t have all the luxuries of todays drivers. if you don’t have three to five cars running in the race NASCAR doesn’t want you.
The race teams should boycott NASCAR, and start a new organization altogether. stop racing under NASCAR for one year and NASCAR will be done.
Ripple effect of stupid points system . Logano only made it cause Bowman’s (Chevy) fail minimum weight after race by 17#.