NASCAR changes Martinsville results, Championship 4 field

The last two rounds of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs leading up to the Championship 4 have concluded with eight and four drivers, respectively, advancing to the next round.

Only seven and three of those drivers, respectively, actually advanced to the next round.

For the second round in a row, NASCAR adjusted the results of a playoff round after the round had apparently ended.

After the round of 12 finale at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman was disqualified when his car was found to be underweight, and Team Penske's Joey Logano took his spot in the round of 8.

Logano went on to qualify for the Championship 4 by winning the round of 8 opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Now NASCAR ended up in a similar situation at Martinsville Speedway.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell entered the final lap trailing Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron by one point. Running in 19th place, he simply needed to make up one position to secure the final spot in the Championship 4. Byron was running in sixth. Bell owned the tiebreaker due to the fact that he finished in second at Las Vegas; Byron's best finish of the round was only a fourth at the same track.

But 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace slowed on the final lap, and Bell made the move for 18th place to advance to the Championship 4. The problem is that he sent his No. 20 Toyota into the barrier and rode the barrier through turns three and four of the four-turn, 0.526-mile (0.847-kilometer) Ridgeway, Virginia oval.

Though it wasn't the exact same move as the move Ross Chastain pulled two years ago, the fact that NASCAR outlawed that move, dubbed the "Hail Melon", led to an inevitable controversy.

NASCAR determined that Bell did indeed commit a safety violation, and he was dropped all the way back to 22nd place. Byron took the fourth and final spot in the Championship 4 by four points over Bell.

There were, of course, debates about whether or not Toyota and Chevrolet were intentionally manipulating the outcomes themselves, with Wallace seemingly conveniently dropping back on the final lap for Bell to make the pass he needed to make – and both Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon and Trackhouse Racing Team's Ross Chastain seemingly holding up the pack and not making any serious attempts to get around Byron.

Those debates never amounted to much, and even if they had, there's really no concrete way to prove the implementation of any "team orders". Perhaps Bell's illegal move was the saving grace on that front.

This year's NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 is set to consist of William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Tyler Reddick. Blaney is the reigning series champion. Live coverage is set to be provided by NBC from Phoenix Raceway beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 10. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!