Ross Chastain rule change, explained: Why NASCAR banned ‘Hail Melon’ wall move for 2023 season
Ross Chastain’s gamble to secure a spot in last year’s Championship 4 in Phoenix was one of the biggest moves of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series. And it will likely never be seen again.
Chastain’s upshifting into the wall at Turns 3 and 4 on the final lap at Martinsville didn’t just give him that fastest lap ever at Martinsville Speedway, but also catapulted him from 10th to fifth place: good enough to earn a promotion to Championship 4 the following week. He finished the race and playoff points just ahead of Denny Hamlin.
The maneuver, which gained notoriety not only for its novelty but also for the stage Chastain used it on, was hailed as “Hail Melon” — a portmanteau of Football’s “Hail Mary” and watermelon that Chastain was an eighth generation of is farmer.
Chastain said after the race that he and other racers routinely attempted the step in NASCAR video games growing up. With nothing to lose, he thought he’d try it in real life – with spectacular success:
MORE: Inside Ross Chastain’s Martinsville ‘Video Game Parade’
Of course, NASCAR made the move illegal before the start of the 2023 Cup Series and turned the move into a pre-existing rule that will prohibit its use going forward. With that, The Sporting News examines why NASCAR banned Chastain’s infamous Hail Melon move:
Why Did NASCAR Ban Ross Chastain’s Wallride Move?
NASCAR officially ruled on January 31, citing safety concerns, that Chastain’s wall ride maneuver would be banned beginning in the 2023 Cup series. However, the move did not require an additional rule. NASCAR officials simply added it to pre-existing rule 10.5.2.6.A.
According to NASCAR rules:
“Security is a top priority for NASCAR and NEM (NASCAR Event Management). Therefore, any violations that endanger the safety of an event or otherwise pose a dangerous risk to the safety of competitors, officials, spectators or others will be treated with the highest degree of seriousness. Security breaches are handled on a case-by-case basis.”
NASCAR’s official statement states that any vehicle attempting Chastain’s wall drive will be subject to a time penalty. Said Elton Sawyer, senior vice president of competition at NASCAR:
“As a general rule, we take seriously any action that we believe endangers the safety of our competitors, officials and spectators. And we will punish this act in the future. Basically it would be a lap or time penalty at the end of the race, so the Martinsville switch would be a penalty.”
MORE: NASCAR drivers react to Ross Chastain’s move in team comms: ‘The f— was the 1 doing?’
Why didn’t NASCAR ban wall ride sooner?
When NASCAR notified driver teams of the rule change — via Motorsport.com — Sawyer also addressed why NASCAR didn’t implement it at the final race of the 2022 Cup Series in Phoenix. Essentially, officials wanted to evaluate the off-season rulebook and end the season with a rigorous enforcement of the existing rules.
“This isn’t a new rule,” Sawyer said in the update. “The safety language was there in the rule book and after Martinsville we evaluated it and decided to act consistently for the final race of 2022.
“Since the end of the season we have been working with the drivers and teams to discuss the best way to apply/interpret the rule for 2023 and we believe this is the right interpretation for the safety of our competitors going forward .”
Joey Logano had perhaps the best explanation for why NASCAR hadn’t banned the wallride maneuver before Chastain used it in Martinsville:
“Something we’ve all thought about at some point – at least I’ve thought about it a lot but never really felt the need to do it,” Logano said after the race, before adding, “It was great, it was cool. It happened for the first time.”
Essentially, NASCAR hadn’t banned the move because officials never thought drivers would actually do it use It. That thinking changed after Chastain’s “Hail Melon” earned him a Championship 4 spot. However, neither he nor his contemporaries seem upset by the ban on the move, as even the driver of the No. 1 Chevy said he did not intend to use the maneuver again and again.
“Why did it work? I don’t know but I have no idea or plans to ever do that again because it wasn’t comfortable,” he said on Championship 4 media day.
MORE: Date, time, TV channels for each NASCAR Cup Series race in 2023
Other drivers, acknowledging the novelty and thrill of the move, also said after the Martinsville race that NASCAR needed to ban it.
Logano said: “As spectacular as it was, as much as it worked, the problem is that the box is open now, isn’t it? … This is not good.
“There’s no rule against it. There has to be a rule against that because I don’t know if you want the whole field on the wall to get to the checkered flag.”
Ryan Blaney also offered a glimpse into the future if NASCAR didn’t make a change: “I think we’ll all start with that now when the race is over.”
With NASCAR’s intervention, that will no longer be the case. With that, Chastain’s “Hail Melon” will be remembered as a unique move in NASCAR Cup Series history.