NASCAR's Elton Sawyer weighs in on team building and arrangements after controversial Martinsville finish

NASCAR's final Round of 8 playoff race was filled with controversy afterward Christopher Bell was found to have a safety violation for riding over the wall and knocking him out of the final spot in the Championship 4 playoffs.

However, it wasn't just Bell's wall ride that was in question.

On the last lap of the race it was also clear that Chevrolet drivers were on the road Austin Dillon And Ross Chastain actively blocked the track behind it William Byron (also a Chevrolet driver) to stop him from giving up valuable points as Bell approached.

Bell reprimanded Dillon and Chastain for “fixing the race” in a post-race interview.

In the meantime, an equally questionable pass occurred Bubba Wallace by Bell himself. Wallace appeared to slow down considerably, allowing Bell to get past him and Byron temporarily staying level on points.

Wallace said after the race that he felt like he had blown a tire.

Nevertheless, the ethics of team play and agreements were fully in the spotlight. NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer took the stage after the controversial finish to talk about what NASCAR can do to prevent team building when everything is on the line.

“I think if you look at it again from 30,000 feet, you want our teams to show up and every single one of them do their best to go out and try to win the race,” Sawyer said. “And when you get into the playoffs and you have that 10-race stretch and then you start taking drivers out, obviously the roles are different. And then when you get here and there are eight riders – we had two people locked up – then it’s six people fighting for two spots, so there’s a lot going on.”

NASCAR said it would, as usual, review footage and crew audio from the race to ensure nothing unusual happened.

And despite possible agreements on several fronts, the race itself was exciting. Sawyer defended NASCAR in this regard and promised to watch everything from Sunday's race in Martinsville.

“Again, I think our format worked,” he said. “It gave us and our fans the excitement we wanted. And when you have that, from time to time there will be situations like we had today because these guys are the best in the world and they will give their best every day and have the passion for it. Day after day I try to race win and win championships.

“So let’s go back and download with our team and see how we could have responded quicker to get the answers you’re looking for.”