Ross Chastain’s Crazy Wall-Ride Pass Earns a Shot at NASCAR Title

• Ross Chastain needed to make up five positions on the last lap of the Xfinity 500 to make it into the final round of the NASCAR playoffs, and he did just that with an insane pass.
• Taking inspiration from video games he played as a kid, Chastain kept his foot on the throttle and rode the wall to blast past playoff rival Denny Hamlin right before he crossed the line.
• Chastain even upshifted as he made the bold overtake, and seemed equally surprised as those watching that the maneuver worked out.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. On the final lap of the 2022 Xfinity 500, the penultimate race in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Ross Chastain knew he needed to overtake Denny Hamlin to advance to the final round. With Hamlin five places ahead, Chastain made one of the craziest passes the sport has ever seen, riding the wall around the last two corners, slingshotting his way past several cars to beat Hamlin’s No. 11 Toyota by a nose.

The move looked like something straight out of a video game, and Chastain readily admitted to drawing inspiration from the gaming world. “I think the first time I ever saw a race car do that was on the GameCube 2005 console,” he explained post-race, elaborating that his brother had used the same move to beat him when they would play the game as teenagers.

Unlike in virtual racing, however, it was a pass that could only have worked on the last lap. The prolonged contact with the wall certainly damaged Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet. Chastain was well aware that the move could have wrecked his car, saying, “I didn’t know if the physics would work to make it around the corner.” But with so little race remaining and a spot in the final four in playoff contention on the line, it was well worth the risk. And the physics did work, with Chastain able to keep his foot on the gas while the wall steered him left, even shifting up into fifth gear as he scraped along the barrier. The only way that the move could be made more epic is if Chastain manages to take his first Cup Series title at the championship race this coming weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

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