Where I can bend the story to my will, from time to time, I get to write about motorsport.
This particular story concerns NASCAR driver Ross Chastain and the rather unorthodox method he’s used to secure his place in the NASCAR Championship Cup 4.
At today’s race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, Chastain, a driver for Trackhouse Racing, was in 10th place as the chequered flag fell and competitors began to cross the line. Chastain, seeing an open lane around the outside of the final turn, stepped on the gas and performed what can only be described as “some real Gran Turismo 2 shit,” jamming his car up against the wall, defying physics, and using the momentum of the curve to propel his car up five places to finish 5th, catapulting him into Championship contention.
UNBELIEVABLE!@RossChastain floors it along the wall to go from 10th to 5th and advance to the CHAMPIONSHIP! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/9qX3eq7T6h
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 30, 2022
Anyone who’s ever played a 3D racing game before in their lives is looking at this move and going “I’ve done that a hundred times.” It seems like something that could only work in a video game, but here this lunatic is, not just doing it for real and getting away with it. He rammed his car into a wall at full speed and somehow didn’t end up in the bin. Wallriding has been a common move in arcade racers and the occasional sim racer like Gran Turismo for years. Wallriding has always been a quirk of video game physics systems, something that you knew had no real-world application. You knew you couldn’t just grind a real car up against a barrier and maintain speed. That’s not how physics works. But, because you were doing it in a video game, it would work.
Chastain’s car, shoved up against concrete the way it is, should be slowing down. And yet, there he goes, slingshotting through the turn and shattering his car to make up an astonishing five places. Here’s the onboard camera for another angle.
THE MOVE THAT SENDS ROSS CHASTAIN TO THE #CHAMPIONSHIP4! pic.twitter.com/67Ku712XZf
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 30, 2022
What a move.
Only in NASCAR.
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