A heads-up rule move by Chase Elliott’s jackman keeps the team in title contention

Chase Elliott raised both fists to the sky, let his face fall in his hands, then took a deep breath before uttering the words, “Oh my gosh,” in front of a thousand screaming fans at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday night.

“Biggest win ever for us,” Elliott said on NBC immediately after taking the checkered flag in the final Round of 8 race to advance to the NASCAR championship.

He stepped out of his Chevrolet as his No. 9 teammates slapped each other’s backs and embraced behind him on camera.

“Just so proud,” Elliott said. “To be able to be backed into the corner like that and have to win tonight, I feel like that’s what we’ve been missing these past four or five years to perform when we don’t have a choice.”

The team was heads-up all night, except for a slow pit stop that cost Elliott a few positions in the final stage of the Xfinity 500. One moment in particular kept the driver in contention for his first career Cup championship when it could have cost him the victory.

The caution flag came out with around 150 laps left in the race and Elliott in the lead. His pit team was ready on the wall to give the car more fuel and fresh tires. But jackman T.J. Semke jumped the gun. He was over the wall before Elliott’s car was a pit box away from the team’s, a violation of the NASCAR rule book.

“I just felt like a deer in the headlights,” Semke told The Athletic. “You want to talk about a very bad feeling, leading a race and you’re out there by yourself, standing there. It’s not a good feeling, it’s a lonely feeling. You’re standing there and you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m definitely early.’”

The sanctioning body jumped the gun, too. NASCAR called a penalty on the No. 9 team, which would have sent Elliott to the rear of the field for the restart, but Semke, like lightning, backtracked to the wall for a reset, forcing NASCAR to reverse the call. The rule also states:

“Should a crew member’s feet prematurely touch the pit road surface prior to servicing the vehicle, said crew member(s) can re-establish their position back to or behind service wall prior to servicing the vehicle to avoid a penalty.”

NASCAR senior vice president of competition Scott Miller told NASCAR SiriusXM radio Monday that the rule is clearly stated and he felt officials made the appropriate call reversing the penalty, commending Semke for the reset.

Elliott stayed up front.

“(Semke) was heads up enough to go back and fix it, not to have to go to the back of the field,” Elliott said. “If he hadn’t have done that, I don’t think we’d have been able to win. There just wasn’t enough time left.”

The No. 9 crew chief Alan Gustafson said the credit went to the team’s pit department.

“They did a good job of instructing those guys, T.J., what to do,” Gustafson said. “It’s a new rule. I want to say it’s new this year or last year. It’s certainly an adjustment that NASCAR has made to give those guys a little bit of forgiveness if that was to happen.”

NASCAR has admittedly missed other calls regarding Elliott’s team. The sanctioning body did not black-flag the driver for radio failure that caused him to be unable to hear his spotter during the playoff race at Kansas, a rule in place to avoid potentially dangerous situations on the track. Some have speculated NASCAR’s omission was more intentional than accidental with Elliott considered a darling of the sport and fan favorite.

“We felt like they were in communication with one another,” Miller told NASCAR SiriusXM radio after the race. “Obviously, by his interview at the end of the race, we were wrong about that. That’s one of the things about officiating these races, we make decisions and we live with them and we have to move on to the next race.”

Miller said Monday that NASCAR would review two other late-race situations from Martinsville, including Kevin Harvick intentionally wrecking Kyle Busch coming to the checkered flag in a last-ditch effort to point his way into the championship race, as well as Joe Gibbs Racing driver Erik Jones reportedly being told not to pass his teammate Denny Hamlin to give the playoff driver an advantage.

“From my viewpoint, Erik Jones was beating the bumper off the 11 (Hamlin’s car), so it didn’t look like there was much going on there. It was pretty hard racing, but we will review the radio communication and see if there is any action to be taken.”

But the reversed penalty for Semke will stand. He was able to celebrate with a team headed for the championship event by the end of the night Sunday. Elliott drove in the winning car, but called the victory — his fourth this season and first at the track — a team effort.

“Feel like we have a great group,” Elliott said. “A group that’s capable of winning. I thought we showed that and proved that tonight. I think we can have a great shot next week.”

Elliott said he would start preparing for Phoenix the following day. Sunday night for the team was about taking in the feeling of victory and reflecting on the few seconds that nearly made the post-race giddiness impossible, then probable.

“Everybody at HMS essentially delivered,” Gustafson said. “Great car. Tons of speed, obviously. Great engine. Pit crew did what we had to do. Yeah, it’s a good day.”

NASCAR Final 4 drivers

Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski.

NASCAR race schedule this week at Phoenix

• The Cup Series Championship is at Phoenix Raceway at 3 p.m. Sunday. Watch the race on NBC.
• The Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 is 5 p.m. Saturday on NBC Sports Network. The Xfinity final four drivers are Justin Allgaier, Austin Cindric, Justin Haley and Chase Briscoe.
• The 2020 Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series wraps up at 8 p.m. Friday with the Lucas Oil 150 on FS1. The final four drivers are Grant Enfinger, Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed and Zane Smith.
• The Arca Menards Series West has its Arizona Lottery 100 at 2 p.m. Saturday (available to watch via TrackPass or streaming on NBCSports Plus).

NASCAR at Martinsville final race results

This story was originally published November 2, 2020 at 12:00 AM.

Alexandra Andrejev

The Charlotte Observer

NASCAR and Charlotte FC beat reporter Alex Andrejev joined The Observer in January 2020 following an internship at The Washington Post. She is a two-time APSE award winner for her NASCAR beat coverage and National Motorsports Press Association award winner. She is the host of McClatchy’s podcast “Payback” about women’s soccer. Support my work with a digital subscription