Ross Chastain has wowed the NASCAR world by pulling off a video game move during the last lap of Martinsville Speedway.
The Trackhouse Racing driver hugged the wall and rode at high speed, thereby claiming a place for the Championship 4 race at Phoenix Raceway.
However, his move didn’t go well with everyone as defending champion Kyle Larson called it “embarrassing” and “not a good look for our sport”.But Larson is only a small section of people who are critical of Chastain’s move as many are left impressed by the No. 1 driver.
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The latest in line to join Chastain’s praise is Formula 1 legend Fernando Alonso who reserved very high praise for the move. He tweeted:
“This is the best thing of 2022 in motor racing! We all did this on video games with damage disable. Never thought this could become reality.”
This is the best thing of 2022 in motor racing !
We all did this on video games with damage disable. Never thought this could become reality 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 https://t.co/UOsfyxox7E— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) October 31, 2022
After the race, Chastain credited the inspiration to his move to playing video games when he was young.
“I played a lot of NASCAR 2005 on the GameCube with Chad [who is also a racer] growing up,” Chastain told NBC. You can get away with it [on the game] and I never knew if it would actually work [in real life].
“I did that when I was eight years old. It flashed back in my head on the white flag [last lap]. If it wrecks, OK, we don’t make it. It might not work, but I’ll try it.”
While it remains for debate whether drivers should attempt such a move, there is no doubt that it was one of the most entertaining finishes of the recent time.