NASCAR has issued $600,000 in fines and suspended nine team members from three different teams for alleged race manipulation at Martinsville Speedway. The penalties came down after a contentious final battle Sunday at the Virginia track in which Christopher Bell initially qualified for the championship final four, but his move to hit the wall and use it for momentum violated a banned safety rule and was disallowed. That gave the final spot in this week’s winner-take-all finale at Phoenix Raceway to William Byron. NASCAR has since ruled that Chevrolet drivers Ross Chastain and Austin Dillon intentionally helped Byron during the race, and Bubba Wallace faked a flat tire to help Bell.
