Joey Logano has called for a new rule to be introduced after Ross Chastain used the wall to vault into the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship final.
In a last-lap move that looked like it was straight out of a video game, Chastain throttled his Trackhouse Racing #1 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 against the wall, moving up five spots to finish fifth in the final NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Round of 8 race at Martinsville Speedway.
Chastain would eventually be classified fourth, after Brad Keselowski’s #6 Ford Mustang GT failed to make weight in post-race inspections.
The move drew a significant reaction including from Logano, classified sixth in the #22 Team Penske Ford Mustang, who warned against similar moves in the future.
“There needs to be a rule against this one because I don’t know if you want the whole field riding the wall coming to the checkered flag,” the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series champion said.
“I don’t know if it’s the safest thing for the driver or the fans when you have a car right up at the wall hauling the mail like that. What if that fence, gate, wasn’t closed all the way? What if it was bent and caught his car? That’s a big risk that Ross [Chastain] was willing to take.”
Without a ruling Logano believes the move could potentially set a poor precedent.
“As spectacular as it was, as much as it worked, the problem is now the box is open, right?,” he pondered. “Now every Xfinity race, every Truck race, every Cup race, no matter the track, this wall riding is going to be a play. That’s not good, that’s not good.”
In saying that Logano labelled the move as video game-like.
“We all did it as kids, we all did it in the video game, that’s how you made speed in the video game, that’s what you did,” he added. “Something we all thought about at one point. At least I thought about it a lot, but never really had the need to do it.
“Also kind of thought of how many races I could have won here by doing that. I mean, it was awesome, it was cool, it happened for the first time, there’s no rule against it. God bless him, that’s awesome, but I don’t think we need to do that every week.”
The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship will be decided at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, November 6 at 15:00 local time/Monday 07:00 AEDT.
Unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/eL2V6O2QCu
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 31, 2022