NASCAR: Ross Chastain's epic wall-riding maneuver on the last lap at Martinsville gets him a spot in the title race

Ross Chastain used an incredible wall-riding move on the final lap at Martinsville to advance to the NASCAR Cup Series championship race.

Chastain went from 10th to fifth on the final lap of the race by intentionally driving his car into the wall at full speed. He accelerated against the wall through the entirety of Turns 3 and 4 and passed five cars so that he would have a chance to win the 2022 Cup Series championship in the winner-take-all title race at Phoenix on Nov. 6.

Christopher Bell won the race and advanced to the final four with Chastain, Joey Logano and Chase Elliott. Chastain’s move on the final lap eliminated perennial title contender Denny Hamlin. Hamlin was in the final four ahead of Chastain via points until the final two corners.

Millennials will know that what Chastain did was the preferred way to win a race at Martinsville on EA Sports’ NASCAR video games in the early 2000s when you had the car damage turned off. And Chastain referenced those video games after he climbed from his car.

“Played a lot of NASCAR 05 on the Gamecube with [brother] Chad growing up and you can get away with it,” Chastain said. “And I never knew if it would actually work. I did that when I was 8 years old.”