We all remember that one time back in 2022 when NASCAR driver Ross Chastain decided to see if video-game physics worked in real life. Instead of braking for turn three at Martinsville Speedway on the very last lap of the race, he kept his foot on the gas and rode the wall, going from 10th place to 5th place, securing his spot in that year’s playoffs.
That series of passes remains the most legendary in all of NASCAR (at least by my recollection). It’s unlikely to be seen again, as NASCAR quickly moved to ban any such maneuver from competition at the beginning of the 2023 season.
From Motorsport.com:
“NASCAR will deem any future use of that maneuver as unsafe per Section 10.5.2.6.A of the NASCAR Rule Book. To ensure that our competitors do not employ strategies that may compromise the safety of themselves, other competitors or fans, NASCAR will issue a time penalty to any vehicle that attempts an unsafe maneuver such as the one performed at Martinsville.
Sorry, speedrunners, this glitch has been patched. It’s not that you can no longer wall-ride, but doing so would just be a waste of car parts, as you’d get hit with a penalty strong enough to erase any positions gained by the move. Unsurprisingly, no one’s done it since.
This weird crash from this past weekend’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway reminds me a lot of that moment, with an equally epic wall-ride. Sadly, the results weren’t nearly as impressive. The incident happened during an overtime rolling restart. The number 38 car, fielded by Front Row Motorsports and driven by Zane Smith, was bumped by the number 42 car of John Hunter Nemecheck. Both cars crashed, but Smith’s Ford did something strange. From Motorsport.com:
His car climbed up the wall, riding along the SAFER Barrier on its side before flipping multiple times. It landed on its wheels, but the huge crashed forced the race to be red-flagged. He climbed from the car and was able to walk away without issue.
Unlike Chastain’s iconic ride on the wall, Smith’s Ford actually got up on its side and rode the wall using the vehicle’s underside. And it’s not like it rode the wall for a few feet then fell over. Because the car was going so quickly when it crashed, it was able to skirt the barriers for at least 100 feet before eventually toppling over. The visuals are incredible.
It’s worth mentioning that Smith wasn’t attempting to actually ride the wall here—he just happened to find himself there after an unfortunate fender bender. It’s too bad the SAFER Barriers weren’t tall enough to accommodate the Ford’s full track width. Otherwise, I’m sure Smith would’ve chucked the car back in gear, dug into the throttle, and ridden that wall all the way to the finish line.
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A note to NASCAR officials: Please make the barriers taller. Not only will that make things safer, but it’ll also allow all four wheels to touch when drivers like Smith end up on their sides with an opportunity to do something really cool.
Top GIF: NASCAR via Instagram
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“To the window (to the window), to the wall (to the wall)”
smh
You don’t go full circus wall of death. You never go full circus wall of death.
Here is the crazy thing to me, I saw this posted on social media and just ignored it because I assumed it was AI (in my defense, they did dub the audio from Chastain into the video).
The car was contained to the track, the safer barrier mitigated impacts, and the driver was safe. You could maybe make arguments for the barriers being taller, but this doesn’t seem to be one. A taller barrier in this instance wouldn’t have changed the outcome at all.
Though the wallride would be cool, and less safe. Not sure I want my face 8″ from the ground while driving along the barrier
You’re right, but you’ve missed the entire point:
Because it would be awesome.
So we’re just going to ignore that EPIC drift Number 54 did?
Those of you who are old enough to remember Mercedes-Benz ads from the late 60s and early 70s will remember the “Mercedes-Benz test track in Stuttgart, West Germany.” Back when there was an East Germany. And those on that side of the wall were trundling around in Ladas and Trabants.
It had (still has?) a wall that cars (and even buses) would climb going around at a sufficient velocity to not fall off.
It made for great video in the ads and still photos.
mercedes-test-track-high-bank-01-1024.jpg (1024×1030)
I love that photo! Mercedes Streeter, I’ll bet there are some stories you can dig up about this. And I haven’t found an archive of their ads, but they were awesome for early teen me. If you could find that, I would be eternally grateful.
Side note: M-B cars were so much better looking then. I loved them from the 1968 300 SEL 6.3 and lesser W114s through oh, the W124 era. And then the stylists lost their way.
Or maybe engineers having to make them more aerodynamic.
Minor correction.
The wall ride was controversially done by Christopher Bell at Martinsville in 2024 and incidentally was eliminated from the playoffs for violating the rule that banned wall riding.
https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2024/11/03/christopher-bell-ousted-from-champ-4-after-last-lap-move-deemed-unsafe/
Whhhheeeeeeeeeee!
Now do a Doc Hudson parkour flip over another car!
Not to change the subject, but why am I seeing the same pop-up window for a video every time I open a page? I’m logged in as me (a member) but I keep having to re-close the same pop-up like I do when I visit from a not-logged-in device. Just wondering.
Email Matt: matt@TheAutopian.com
Thanks Ben, and done. 🙂
Please don’t put gifs in the lede image on other pages… It makes them very busy and less eye catching, more annoying and distracting. I get that the motion of the car is the point in this story, but still.
I’ve been trying to teach my dad how to recognize AI videos, he sent this to me yesterday convinced it was AI, nope believe it or not it’s RL.
After seeing Banana ball catch on, I don’t see why NASCAR shouldn’t just let the drivers go hog wild. Wall ride. bumper cars, jumps- turn the whole thing into a real life Mario Cart.
That’s pretty much most races at the Roval
That was one of the craziest things I’ve seen in a race. The car climbed the wall like it knew what it was doing. It’s like Goggles Paisano at the Indianrockolis 500.
Anyone else getting the videos from the article in a little box on the lower right hand side of your screen as you scroll through?
To the Autopian: Please, don’t do this if this is a change you’re actively trying to make. All it does is annoy me, and I’m less likely to watch a video if you do it.
I’m getting it too. I assumed it’s a glitch that will go away.
I hope it is. I’m mainly here to read stuff, not a huge fan of all content being pushed towards video.
Some of us probably do remember that time in 2022, because Hardigree wrote about it. Hyperlink must have glitched out in posting this article.
From the headline I thought this was some NASCAR sim I’d never heard of. Not a real life event!
NASCAR is bad ass sometimes.
The car being wheels to the wall makes it look even more like a video game glitch
This team is missing out on additional sponsorship opportunities on the bottom of the car.