Now, here is a proper mess to unpack from Sunday's NASCAR Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway. As Motorsport.com reports, Kyle Larson pulled off an absolute stunner by dragging his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet from 11th place entering Turn 3 all the way to the front, snatching victory away from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and William Byron. But as we all know with this track, a chaotic finish is never clean.
Fans immediately started asking questions about a pivotal moment in the tri-oval, where Larson ripped past Todd Gilliland and appeared to brush or dip his left-side tires below the dreaded yellow line. Chastain came under similar scrutiny for his own moves during the scramble. Earlier on that exact same white flag lap, Austin Hill ducked under Larson for the lead at the exit of Turn 2 and put his left-sides under the yellow line too, though Hill ultimately finished at the tail-end of the lead lap after losing power right before the checkered flag.
Let's look at the actual rulebook on this beast, because Section 8.3.2 clearly states that vehicles must race above the double yellow lines around the entire circuit. If series officials judge that a car drops beneath those lines to improve its position, it gets black-flagged. The same penalty applies if a driver forces another car below the lines to block a pass. Yet, series officials ultimately ruled that there were no yellow line violations on that white flag lap.
That did not stop the entire paddock and social media from erupting into a full-scale debate, much like when Bubba Wallace copped a penalty sent to the tail-end of the lead lap for a yellow-line infraction while battling for the Cup win at Atlanta this past summer. None other than Dale Earnhardt Jr. weighed in online, pointing out that Larson actually seemed to get ahead of Gilliland before even reaching the questionable territory.
Larson himself admitted the danger, stating, "I knew it was close and I'd have been really pissed at myself if I did go below ... To get it called back would have sucked ... My momentum was taking me past the 47 [Stenhouse] (and) I was fist-pumping before I ever got to the line. So yeah, that would've been embarrassing if we didn't win."
Meanwhile, Cliff Daniels, crew chief for Larson, revealed just how close they cut it with the celebrations: "I had no idea of that until Victory Lane. He's like, I got to be honest with you, I started cheering before I was even close to the line. I took my hands off the wheel. That's why I almost went below the line. I was like, 'bro, are you serious right now (laughter)?' I have not seen that replay."
