Christopher Bell slams 'life-altering' NASCAR decision in Netflix series

NASCAR's Full Speed docu-series came back for its second season this week, with some fascinating behind-the-scenes footage.

One pivotal moment, both in last year's Cup Series playoffs and in the docu-series, was Christopher Bell's penalty at the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville in the penultimate race of the season.

Bell rode the wall on the final lap to steal the position which would have put him into the Championship 4 after being controversially held up by a number of Chevrolet cars, but was relegated after the race to be classified as the last car on his lap in 22nd.

That dramatic call from NASCAR knocked him out of the playoffs, with Bell telling the documentary cameras that the decision was 'life-altering', with his press conference where he claimed he was 'cheated' also included.

Bell: NASCAR took a potential championship away

Speaking in the series, he said: “That judgment call from NASCAR was a life-altering call. They took a potential championship away from me.”

In the now-infamous press conference at the time, he said: “My intentions were never to ride the wall; I didn’t gain an advantage riding the wall. I don’t believe I broke a rule. I feel cheated. I feel cheated out of the chance to compete for a championship and it all started whenever the race got fixed and manipulated by Chevrolet.

“I feel like I should have never been in that situation had the race been ran fairly, (William Byron) would have lost enough spots to get me into the final race.”

The 2024 championship race was won by Joey Logano for his third Cup Series title in the end, taking the race and playoff win at Phoenix.

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