CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Drama continued to engulf NASCAR ahead of its championship-deciding season finale, as the sanctioning body imposed $600,000 in fines and suspended nine members of three different teams Tuesday for alleged race-rigging. the race at Martinsville Speedway.

The penalties came after a controversial final battle on Sunday at the Virginia track in which Christopher Bell initially qualified for the championship final four, but his move of hitting the wall and using it to generate momentum violated a prohibited safety rule and was disallowed.

That gave the final spot in this week’s finale at Phoenix Raceway to William Byron.

But, NASCAR was clear in disqualifying Bell that it would take a hard look at the actions other drivers played in the sequence of events as Bell and Byron battled for the final spot in the championship four.

Elton Sawyer, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, seemed to emphasize that sanctioned drivers Ross Chastain, Austin Dillon and Bubba Wallace were lucky not to be suspended.

“In this case we felt like we wanted to focus more on team leadership, which we haven’t done in the past,” Sawyer said. “But I promise you that that does not exclude moving forward. “We have meetings this week with our drivers and we will convey that point to them and make it very clear that when you do something that compromises the integrity of our sport, we will react.”

Since the 2013 scandal, drivers have been warned that they have an obligation to give 100% at all times and not engage in any race manipulation. It arose from the final regular-season race of that season, when Clint Bowyer deliberately spun to start a sequence of events that gave teammate Martin Truex Jr. the final playoff spot.

Truex was kicked out of the playoffs (the scandal eventually led to the closure of Michael Waltrip Racing) and Jeff Gordon was added as an unprecedented extra driver because he had been robbed of the opportunity to compete for the playoff position. It was after a weekend of crisis meetings between NASCAR and the teams in the opening race of the playoffs that NASCAR made its 100% rule.

But the tampering rule is openly violated at Daytona and Talladega, where the manufacturers’ cars work together in draft and when drivers make their pit stops. There has not yet been a sanction for those cases.

In the latter case, NASCAR determined that Toyota driver Wallace faked a puncture to give Bell room to move out of the way and hit the wall. The wall-mounting move was banned after Chastain did it in 2022 to earn the final playoff spot.

In Byron’s case, NASCAR ruled that Chastain and Dillon interfered to help fellow Chevrolet driver Byron not lose any track position that would cost him a championship spot.

Sawyer said the sanctioning body considered taking action against manufacturers Chevrolet and Toyota, but there is nothing in the regulation that requires punishing the manufacturers. NASCAR also planned to meet with leaders from Ford, Chevy and Toyota to discuss the situation.

Because the sanctions were issued the week of the season finale, teams have until Wednesday afternoon to request an expedited appeal. The appeals will likely be heard on Thursday.

Trackhouse Racing, which fields Chastain’s Chevy, said it would appeal, as did 23XI for Wallace’s Toyota.

“We firmly believe that we did not commit any violations during Sunday’s race,” 23XI said in a statement. The team is currently embroiled in lawsuit against NASCAR over the charter system and has Tyler Reddick competing Sunday for the Cup title.

The sanctions imposed were:

Ross Chastain

A $100,000 fine for Chastain, a $100,000 fine for Trackhouse and one-race suspensions for team executive Tony Lunders, crew chief Philip Surgen and spotter Brandon McReynolds. Chastain is the defending winner of the race in Phoenix. The team also lost 50 points.

Austin Dillon

Dillon was fined $100,000, as was Richard Childress Racing. One-race suspensions were handed out to team executive Keith Rodden, crew chief Justin Alexander and spotter Brandon Benesch. The team also lost 50 points. Richard Childress Racing also said it would appeal.

Bubba Wallace

Wallace was fined $100,000, as was 23XI. One-race suspensions went to team executive Dave Rogers, crew chief Robert Barker and spotter Freddie Kraft. The team also lost 50 points.

Sawyer had said Sunday that NASCAR would review the Martinsville finish to see if there was indeed any race manipulation with rival drivers helping others who are aligned with the same manufacturer.

But he said he hoped the sanctions would be tough enough to curb alliances with manufacturers and racial manipulation.

“We looked at the most recent penalty we had written for a very similar infraction…we wanted to increase it,” Sawyer said, “and we did. We did it in a way that included team leadership and this is something that we felt we wanted to make clear is a responsibility of all of us…. to defend the integrity of the sport.”

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