NASCAR: The unsung hero who prevented a similar controversy

NASCAR made the shocking decision to disqualify Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman from Sunday afternoon's Cup Series playoff race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval, the cutoff race to determine which eight drivers would advance to the semifinal round of 8 of the 2024 postseason.

Bowman had comfortably advanced before the penalty was handed down, and the battle for the eighth and final spot in the next round came down to 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick and Team Penske's Joey Logano. Reddick won that battle, and Logano was left eliminated, marking his first ever pre-Championship 4 elimination in an even-numbered year.

Until he wasn't.

The points Bowman lost after the No. 48 Chevrolet did not meet the minimum weight requirement in post-race technical inspection were enough to drop him below both Reddick and Logano in the round of 12 standings, and Logano advanced after all.

The modern playoff elimination playoff format was introduced in 2014, and the modern disqualification rule was implemented in 2019.

Never before had a disqualification knocked one driver out of a playoff round for which he had already qualified – or for which he thought he had already qualified – and replaced him with a driver who had been eliminated – or thought he had been eliminated.

But NASCAR almost had a similar controversy.

Calling Ross Chastain an unsung hero for a move that literally made it to No. 1 on SportsCenter's Top 10 plays – the day after an NFL Sunday, no less – is probably the biggest NASCAR understatement of the decade.

Chastain made a video game-like move in turns three and four at Martinsville Speedway in the round of 8 elimination race in 2022, and by riding the wall, he was able to pass enough cars to make up enough points to advance to the Championship 4, eliminating Denny Hamlin in the process.

The move, which has since been outlawed by NASCAR, was dubbed the "Hail Melon", and it is still talked about and shown semi-regularly to this day. There has been little to suggest that that will change.

But that move was praised for the move itself.

Why it really should have been praised? Brad Keselowski.

Chastain's move put him four points ahead of Hamlin to advance. Before he made the move, which saw him pass five cars (including Hamlin's) to jump from 10th to fifth place, he had been tracking two points behind the driver of the No. 11 Toyota.

He owned the tiebreaker over Hamlin, so all he needed to do on the final lap was pass two cars. That, of course, still would have been far from an easy task at Martinsville on a single 0.526-mile lap in the Next Gen car. But by doing so, he would have passed Hamlin for the fourth and final Championship 4 spot.

But after the race, fourth place finisher Keselowski was disqualified when his No. 6 Ford did not meet the minimum weight requirement in post-race inspection.

On paper, a disqualification involving a driver who had failed to qualify for the postseason entirely may not have seemed like a big deal. Both Chastain and Hamlin moved up a spot in the final running order and thus gained an extra point.

But unlike Hamlin, Chastain finished behind Keselowski in both stages. So he also gained two additional points.

Had it not been for Chastain's Hail Melon, Hamlin would have initially been on to the Championship 4. But Keselowski's disqualification would have seen Chastain draw level with Hamlin on points – even without the mind-blowing maneuver – and therefore take away Hamlin's Championship 4 spot on a tiebreaker after the race.

Hamlin could have qualified for the Championship 4, moved up a spot due to another driver's disqualification several hours later, and then been eliminated from title contention because of it.

Thanks to Chastain taking matters into his own hands, that controversy was avoided entirely, and Keselowski's disqualification changed absolutely nothing relating to the title fight.

One of the most talked about moves in modern Cup Series history served a much greater purpose than a highlight reel.

Unfortunately for Bowman (and, quite frankly, for NASCAR as a whole), this time around, the disqualification did affect who advanced and who didn't.

Hendrick Motorsports have already assessed the situation and made the decision not to appeal. The driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet is now out of the playoffs, making him the only driver in the top eight in total points who is not in the round of 8 field. Logano, on the other hand, is only 15th in points this season.

The round of 8 is scheduled to begin this Sunday, October 20 with the South Point 400, which is set to be shown live on NBC from Las Vegas Motor Speedway starting at 2:30 p.m. ET. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss it!