Overtaking of the year has passed in NASCAR, and it's hard to tell from a serious accident

More than a century of car racing makes it nearly impossible to invent anything new at this point. In matters of driving it seems that everything is already created, but this Sunday Ross Chastain's ingenuity has given rise to something new : a historical overtaking, never before seen outside of video games.

In the last corner of the last lap, Chastain decided to crash into the wall . No, it was not a mistake, it was a premeditated maneuver that allowed him to gain five positions, qualify for the final of his category and, incidentally, eliminate his great rival for the title. This is how Ross Chastain made history.

Ross Chastain qualified for the NASCAR finale passing five drivers over the wall

It all happened on the Martinsville oval in the penultimate NASCAR Cup race. Chastain was running 10th and was being eliminated from the NASCAR Grand Final next week in Phoenix. He needed to be in the top five to be there and there was only one corner left.

Well, Chastain decided not to brake in the last corner . With the pedal to the metal, he went straight into the wall, kept his foot on the board and brushing against the protections, he overtook up to five riders to qualify in extremis for the Phoenix grand final. Chastain thus got rid of the traffic jam and, even destroying his car, was able to cross the finish line faster.

The result is that Chastain managed to set his Chevrolet the fastest lap in the history of the circuit , one second faster than the one that had earned pole position for Kyle Larson on Saturday. Chastain magically recovered two seconds from his rivals to qualify for the grand final.

In addition, incidentally, Chastain managed to eliminate his great rival with this maneuver , a Denny Hamlin with whom he has dragged sprints for some time and who promised them very happy rolling with his Toyota in fifth position... until his great rival rubbing against the wall to eliminate him from the grand final.

Thus, next week in Phoenix there will be four contenders for the 2022 NASCAR crown. Chastain, on whom all the spotlight will be on after his incredible maneuver, is joined by Joey Logano, Chase Elliot and Christopher Bell , who precisely won the race in Martinsville, even if it went unnoticed.

After the race, Chastain admitted that he had taken the stunt from the NASCAR video game he played on the GameCube . It doesn't look like Chastain will be disqualified for entering the finish line without a mirror. NASCAR stuff.