No more GameCube trickery out on the tracks, sir.
You might remember when, late last year, NASCAR driver Ross Chastain managed to wall ride a couple of turns during a race. According to Chastain, he got the idea from an old NASCAR GameCube game he played way back when. Well, NASCAR is having none of it, and have banned the move going forward. From the official NASCAR statement:
Chastain’s dash around Turns 3 and 4 at Martinsville Speedway last October made for a enthralling finish as the No. 1 Chevrolet gained five positions in one set of corners, earning enough points to advance to the Championship 4.
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…
To be fair, the safety of performing such a maneuver is the primary concern, here. Considering the speeds stock cars are raced at, it is a reasonably dicey move. Coincidentally, as the statement notes, they don’t even need to add a new rule to the book; rule 10.5.2.6.A covers it:
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.
In addition, anyone caught violating this rule will be served a time penalty.
Basically, if there’s an act that we feel that compromises the safety of our competitors, officials, spectators. 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.
Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition
It probably seems a bit odd that it took them so long to make such a statement, but since there initially was no obvious harm done to any of the racers, it likely took a while to figure out a proper response. It’s unlikely, however, that there will be many willing to press their luck wall riding, though. Chastain said the following about his stunning GameCube move:
Why it worked? I don’t know, but I have no ideas or plans to ever do that again because it was not pleasant.
Ross Chastain
Source: PC Gamer
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