AVONDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Christopher Bell made it clear Saturday that he believes NASCAR took away his chance to win the Cup Series title when he was punished for reacting to race manipulation in the final playoff qualifying race.

Bell drove out of the way of fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace last Sunday because Wallace reportedly had a flat tire. That caused him to hit the wall on the final lap at Martinsville Speedway and he rode it a bit to gain momentum, a move that had been banned after Ross Chastain did it in 2022 to claim the final spot in the NASCAR championship finale at the winner takes all. .

“My intentions were never to climb the wall; I didn’t get any advantage from riding the wall,” Bell said. “I don’t think I broke a rule. I feel cheated. I feel deprived of the opportunity to compete for a championship and it all started when Chevrolet fixed and manipulated the race.

“I feel like I should never have been in that situation if the race had been run fairly, (William Byron) would have lost enough places to make it to the final race.”

It took NASCAR nearly 30 minutes after the race at Martinsville to decide whether Bell had committed a safety violation and whether he or Byron would receive the final spot in the finale. Both drivers waited by their cars and NASCAR finally gave the spot to Byron.

That denied Bell a third straight trip to the championship four.

“I understood his comments and I understand how he feels,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “I think what happened could have been handled very differently.”

Bell insisted Saturday that he was forced to hit the wall because Chevrolet drivers Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon were blatantly blocking the cars from passing Byron, with whom Bell was battling for the final position in the championship race.

“I could see very clearly the manipulation and race fixing that was going on,” Bell said.

NASCAR imposed $600,000 in fines and suspended nine members of the Chastain, Dillon and Wallace teams for Sunday’s season finale. At Friday’s annual State of the Sport address, chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell said the racing at Martinsville “pissed me off and pissed off everyone at NASCAR because we all know that’s not the case.”

NASCAR has had a call with Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota and assured them that next year there will be “1,000%” a rule prohibiting race manipulation, and a private driver meeting was held early Saturday in Phoenix with executives from NASCAR to discuss the issue.

“I feel like I should be in the fourth championship, yeah,” Bell said. “So in the race, when the tampering happened, it was clear that I needed a position. With (Wallace) moving back, we got that position and every time we crossed the finish line, (I) was in. So with the cards that were dealt, (I) was in a position to make it to the championship event, and we’re not. in it.”

NASCAR said it seriously considered suspending drivers involved in race rigging, a sanction Bell wasn’t sure he agreed with. But he noted that manufacturers have traditionally worked together at Daytona and Talladega in the draft when pitting and deciding who to push in traffic.

Bell noted that Kyle Larson didn’t push Ford driver Brad Keselowski to victory in the closing laps at Talladega Superspeedway and that victory went to fellow Chevrolet driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“I don’t envy the situation we’re in because, speaking of team racing, it’s been a staple of sprint racing for a long time, and I don’t know what the answer is, especially when it comes to super sprint racing.” “There’s a lot going on behind the scenes,” Bell said.

Denny Hamlin, meanwhile, said Wallace’s tire was “completely bald” when he inspected it after the race. Hamlin owns Wallace’s car at 23XI Racing but is Bell’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing.

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