Christopher Bell congratulates William Byron after controversial finish at Martinsville
It would have been easy for Christopher Bell to be so heated over a controversial finish to the race at Martinsville that he didn’t have time for sportsmanship.
After all, Bell thought he had qualified for the Championship 4 by pulling level with William Byron on points in the final lap of the race.
Instead, his last-second surge was wiped out by a wall ride that NASCAR deemed a safety violation, sending him back to P22 and giving Byron the points edge he needed to advance over Bell into the final stage of the NASCAR playoffs.
Christopher Bell couldn’t have been more gracious toward Byron after gathering himself.
“Well Willy, that’s not how I wanted it to go but congratulations,” Bell said on the track afterward. “Go get ’em next week.”
The race took several emotional swings in the final lap, which is why it’s remarkable that Christopher Bell was so cool and composed even after the race and the subsequent ruling from NASCAR.
There were certainly questions about potential teaming or collusion, as it appeared that the Chevrolet cars of Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain blocked the track to prevent Byron, a fellow Chevrolet driver, from dropping any further.
Christopher Bell did call that out in a post-race interview.
“I mean that was disappointing,” Christopher Bell told NBC Sports’ Dustin Long. “That was disappointing to see them blocking like that and manipulating the race. I don’t know.”
But that also cut both ways.
Bell appeared to get a pass on Bubba Wallace that was just a touch too easy, as Wallace slowed down very perceptibly as Bell moved on him on the track in the final lap. Wallace said afterward that he felt he had a tire going down.
In any case, the entire day’s proceedings raised some questions for NASCAR about teaming and colluding.
In the end, though, William Byron will advance to the Championship 4 and Christopher Bell’s playoff run stops just short of it. Still, it was nice to see the display of sportsmanship.
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