NASCAR
NASCAR has banned a dangerous move taken straight out of video games
After Ross Chastain pulled off a dangerous move he admitted to have watched in the GameCube NASCAR games to win, competition is getting serious
We’ve seen some things in the worlds of sports and motor-based competitions, but what Ross Chastain did a few months ago is still making us giggle with glee. In the middle of the Xfinity 500 Playoff Cup Series 2022, desperate for not getting a spot in the tournament’s final race, the pilot pulled off a fearless maneuver he got out of his childhood gaming. Chastain began crashing against the sides of the Martinsville Speedway circuit, pushing himself from the 10th to the 5th place, and managed to qualify for the next phase. At the end of the day he confessed he “practiced in GameCube with EA NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup.” And while what he did wasn’t illegal, from now on it will be.
NASCAR and NEM (NASCAR Event Management), posted a joint statement in the official website of the competition in which they condemn what happened and assure that they’ll take new measures to avoid it from now on. “While the move was thrilling and largely lauded for its creativity, it also came with an increased safety risk. Therefore, NASCAR will not add new language to the rule book but instead point to rule 10.5.2.6.A, which states: “Safety is a top priority for NASCAR and NEM (NASCAR Event Management). Therefore, any violations deemed to compromise the safety of an Event or otherwise pose a dangerous risk to the safety of Competitors, Officials, spectators, or others are treated with the highest degree of seriousness. Safety violations will be handled on a case-by-case basis.””
“Basically, if there’s an act that we feel that compromises the safety of our competitors, officials, spectators,” Sawyer said, “we’re going to take that seriously. And we will penalize for that act going forward. Basically, what it would be is a lap or time penalty at the end of the race, so that move at Martinsville would be a penalty.”
The decision comes as a surprise after Chase Elliot and Joey Logano, champion and bi-champion of the competition respectively, praised and celebrated their partner’s maneuver, which they considered as exciting as it was dangerous. Even Elton Sawyer, vicepresident of NASCAR, showed he was pleased by the results it gained and said that this would bring new stories to the competition and would add “a touch of strategy” that seemed to have disappeared before. Evidently , it’s not like other people wouldn’t try it in every race. Chastain said he wouldn’t try to repeat again in the future.
Source | NASCAR