What Happened?
Ryan Blaney put on a late-race charge to the front to take the lead from Chase Elliott in the closing laps at Martinsville Speedway and earned a walk-off win into the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4. Following behind were Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric and Denny Hamlin to round out the top five on Sunday, Nov. 10.
After Christopher Bell was penalized for a last lap move and relegated to 22nd position, he, Elliott, Hamlin and Larson were eliminated from the playoffs.
This will be the first time in Cup Series history that no Joe Gibbs Racing cars are competing in the Championship 4.
What Really Happened?
If I had a nickel for every time a driver was eliminated after a race and then placed back into the next playoff round and then had to write about it this year alone, I’d have two nickels.
That’s not a lot, but it sure is weird that it’s happened twice.
Almost exactly two years ago in a race with the same title, Ross Chastain hurled his car into turn 3 on the final lap to gain more points and made the Championship 4. It was dubbed as the Hail Melon. It may go down in history as one of, if not the most, coolest moments in NASCAR history, and it made the playoffs look like a genius idea.
Not so much this year.
This year, it’s Bell and the Fail Melon, and it will likely fade into NASCAR obscurity.
Fail Melon
— nascarcasm (@nascarcasm) November 3, 2024
But can you blame him for trying?
Entering Sunday, Bell and the No. 20 team had the best average finish out of anyone in the playoffs bar none. They hadn’t secured a lock in the championship round at Phoenix Raceway but they at least had a nice points cushion.
Yet despite that, Bell found himself tied with playoff rival and Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron on the playoff cut line. All of that hard work and success put into the playoffs was about to go away because of one poor performance at a race. That creates frustration. Frustration creates desperation, and desperation creates the hailing of melons.
Christopher Bell sends it into Turn 4 for the final transfer spot! pic.twitter.com/TOTftuyyao
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) November 3, 2024
And that’s the nature of the playoffs.
This championship format is meant to create those Game 7 moments where a whole season is on the line. It’s meant to make drivers desperate to take chances at saving their…
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