Call him a buzzkill if you want, but Joey Logano thinks NASCAR needs to do something to address Sunday’s spectacular maneuver by Ross Chastain.
Chastain intentionally crashed into the wall and road the boards around turns 3 and 4 on the final lap of the Xfinity 500 Sunday. His maneuver helped propel him to a fifth-place finish in the race as he passed Denny Hamlin at the last second to qualify for the Championship 4.
Though the maneuver drew headlines and was memorable, it wasn’t so popular among drivers. Kyle Larson said it was “embarrassing.” Logano acknowledged the finish was “cool,” but said that NASCAR can’t have a repeat.
“As spectacular as it was, now the box is open. … There needs to be a rule against this one. I don’t know if you want the whole field riding the wall coming to the checkered flag,” Logano said after the race, via Kelly Crandall.
At minimum, there is a big safety concern to having drivers intentionally crash into walls in hopes of getting a boost. On another level, do fans and drivers really want to have a 500-lap race decided by someone ramming the wall?
It’s cool when one person does it. But it would lose the special feeling and start to look gimmicky if multiple drivers began to attempt it.
NASCAR won’t put a rule in place in time for next weekend’s race at Phoenix, but maybe they will address matters after the championship.
Logano, Chastain, Christopher Bell and Chase Elliott are the drivers left in the Championship 4.
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