NASCAR says the move is within the rules, but it might just end up being a discussion item in the offseason.
- The NASCAR world is still buzzing about Ross Chastain’s move in the waning moments of last weekend’s Cup Series race at Martinsville.
- NASCAR’s favorite watermelon farmer pulled off a miracle pass that both qualified him for this weekend’s Championship 4 race and also surprised his own crew chief.
- NASCAR says the move is legal … for now anyway.
NASCAR fans and even fellow drivers—and that includes racers outside of NASCAR—can’t seem to get enough of Ross Chastain’s incredible move along the wall during the final lap of this past Sunday’s Cup Series race at Martinsville.
The move that Chastain says he first toyed around with on the NASCAR 2005 video game when he was 8 years old has made him the most talked about fourth-place race finisher in NASCAR history.
This is the best thing of 2022 in motor racing !
We all did this on video games with damage disable. Never thought this could become reality 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/UOsfyxox7E— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) October 31, 2022
“Played a lot of NASCAR 2005 on the GameCube,” Chastain said on PRN radio. “I never knew if it actually worked. I did that when I was 8. I grabbed fifth gear down the back and full committed.”
Christopher Bell was the race winner at Martinsville and in turn became the answer to a trivia game question that just might come up one day.
Since then, Chastain has begun cashing in on the move beyond just the spoils of using the finish to earn just enough points to qualify for the Championship 4 NASCAR Cup finale at Phoenix on Nov. 6.
Chastain’s Melon Man brand website, which celebrates his ties to both NASCAR and his family’s watermelon farm, has added a new novelty item—a ‘Haul the Wall” T-shirt that celebrates the now-famous racing move that has trumped his previous signature move of smashing a watermelon after he wins a race.
HAUL THE WALL – the now famous “Hail Melon”
Celebrate @rosschastain’s bid into #nascar’s Championship 4 with this limited edition graphic tee!#melonmandbrand pic.twitter.com/m5l3gY6u3x— MelonManBrand (@melonmanbrand) November 1, 2022
The 29-year-old Chastain, as much fun as he’s having with his new-found fame, is careful not to let the wall haul distract from what’s been a life-changing season for himself and Trackhouse racing.
“I know that will be the focus,” Chastain said. “But, let’s not forget the path of Trackhouse to get here, how unorthodox we are. How we took a building and a team, and then we brought in another team to build this team as a family. We’ve got more buy-in on the shop floor than I’ve ever witnessed in a race team. I’m so proud to get to do it with this group.”
Martinsville was validation. Sunday might just be a coronation if he can outrun fellow Championship 4 contenders Bell, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. The highest finisher at Phoenix among the four will be crowned the 2022 Cup champion.
“Bigger than the last lap, just remember the fact we are putting ourselves in position to just have a shot at a championship,” Chastain said. “That’s all we ask for.”
Surprisingly, Chastain’s crew chief, Phil Surgen, didn’t know that move was even in the Trackhouse Racing bag of tricks. He saw the move like everyone else—on a TV monitor. And for Surgen, that meant on a slight time delay.
I was as shocked as I think that everybody else was to see him execute that,” Surgen said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “Taking the white flag, he asked how many positions he needed (to make up to qualify for the Championship 4). And I told him we needed two positions at that point.
“Coming off a turn two, I was looking at the data and the television feed—which is a little bit delayed from what’s actually happening—and I saw a pretty big gap ahead of us. And, you know, my immediate reaction was, ‘well, maybe they’ll crash and three and four, and we can drive under a couple of them and that’ll be the points we need.
“And momentarily after that, I hear our spotter and when we’ve we’ve crashed or we spun this year, I can tell by his language, the tone of his voice, I can tell something’s wrong. And he starts telling Ross, ‘Hold on, Hod on to it.’
“I’m like, ‘Oh, man. We’re crashing.’ “
Crew chief Phil Surgen was as surprised as anyone when Ross Chastain pulled a rabbit out of his hat at Martinsville.
Icon SportswireGetty Images
That rest, as they say is Melon Man history.
“In the next few seconds, I’m kind of witnessing what’s happening. I see him rocket pass the start finish line finish line, and it actually takes a moment to comprehend what just happened because it’s obviously we weren’t expecting it. We’ve never seen it before.”
But while Chastain is cashing in on the move, the question begs will anyone try it again. Will someone throw a “Hail Melon” this weekend at Phoenix?
NASCAR says that while the move of just riding the outside wall around the final turn with the throttle wide open is legal, it’s something the sanctioning body might look at this offseason.
“We’ve seen similar attempts but never successfully,” NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “In our 75-year history, no one has successfully done that. So, Ross pulled off a first that we all saw, that I don’t think anyone was thinking about.
“(The move was) certainly within the rules. We’ve had a number of discussions internally about that move and all the what-ifs. But it’s within the rules and that’s where we’ll be for Phoenix as well and something we can evaluate in the offseason.”
Mike Pryson Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011.
Keyword: Ross Chastain Cashing in on NASCAR 'Hail Melon' Wall Move at Martinsville