By Finley Nelson
Since it was founded in 1948, NASCAR has seen many moments go viral and become recognisable all around the world, but in recent years, there is one which has stood out from the rest.
On 30th October 2022, the NASCAR Cup Series travelled to Martinsville, also known as the Paperclip, for the Xfinity 500 and more importantly the final race of the playoffs’ Round of 8 section, which would see only four of the eight drivers head to Phoenix the following week with a chance to fight for the championship. With the series’ ‘win and you’re in’ playoff gimmick at the time, only three places were left up for grabs heading into the race at Martinsville as Team Penske’s Joey Logano took victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks prior to secure his spot in the Championship 4.
Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain was just one of seven drivers aiming for a spot in the final four, which would be a first for him and his team since their first NASCAR Cup season in 2020. Still, nobody could have predicted how he created one of the series’ most iconic moments in recent years to make it happen.
Following two stages and many pit cycles, another Round of 8 contender and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell overtook Chase Briscoe for the lead with four laps to go and fresher tyres. Therefore, leaving only two spots available for the other six drivers to fight for an opportunity to compete for the championship.
With Bell leading the race, Chastain, who sat 10th, needed to finish ahead of JGR’s Denny Hamlin, currently sitting in 5th, to make his first Championship 4 appearance but what he did to make history for his team was a move unlike anything seen before in the series.
Entering turn three on the race’s final lap with all the attention of the playoff situation, Chastain went full throttle and rode the Martinsville walls whilst continuing to gain momentum coming out of turn 4. With much more speed than everyone else who had taken the corner the usual way, the Florida native managed to do the impossible, finishing the race in fourth place and ahead of Hamlin by 0.073 seconds, securing his place in the Championship 4.
Following the race, the move which fans named the ‘Hail Melon’ due to his roots as an eighth-generation watermelon farmer went viral across the motorsport world. The moment has become one of the first things that come to mind when the series visits the Paperclip and since 2022, it has been posted many times on social media sites and viewed more than 160 million times, engraving it into NASCAR history forever.
Although the right hand of his car saw heavy damage from the move, it was a risk which paid off for Chastain. However, at the final race in Phoenix the following week, he finished in third, just 1.4 seconds behind leader Joey Logano who won both the race and the championship. Leaving the Trackhouse driver to end the 2022 season second in the standings, the best effort of his career so far.
Even though what happened was praised by many fascinated members and fans within the motorsport world, in February 2023 NASCAR decided to ban the move along with anything like it for safety reasons. Any driver who attempts an ‘unsafe manoeuvre’ similar to Chastain’s in the future will be awarded a time penalty, making it highly unlikely that we will see anything like the Hail Melon again.
A move like this will never be seen again in the NASCAR Cup Series due to the ban but it will forever remain an iconic moment which will be looked back on for years to come. With it already being one of NASCAR’s most viral moments and viewed by millions of people on social media, the Hail Melon will continue to expose new audiences to the series alongside creating an increased worldwide appreciation for American motorsport.
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