Last October NASCAR Cup Series driver Ross Chastain made history, set a new track record, and spawned a new rule in the NASCAR rule book all with one push of the gas pedal.
In a move that will forever be known as the “Hail Melon”, during the race at Martinsville Speedway that would set the final four in the playoffs, Chastain was in tenth place and looking at being eliminated from the playoffs. On the final lap as he approached turn three, Chastain hit the gas pedal to the floor and went into the turn riding the wall…all the way to the finish line. The move took him from tenth to fifth and earned him the final spot in the final four. It also set a new track record by half a second.
NASCAR has since banned the move and Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks has decided to preserve the car saying, “I wanted the whole car to stay, and there was a point that we weren’t sure. And then once the rule came out, and they updated everything — and I’m glad NASCAR did. I think it was the right call. I don’t want to get beat by it, for sure. I don’t want to do it again to beat somebody. So I just want to beat them straight up. And the rule cemented that the car and the wall and, like I said earlier, it’s all staying intact. And we’ll be able to use this. This is a bright spot for our sport. It’s a bright spot for this track, and selfishly, it’s a bright spot for me.”
On Tuesday, March 7, Martinsville Speedway removed the section of the safer barrier wall that produced the “Hail Melon” and will preserve it. Chastain himself climbed aboard the Kubota forklift to help remove the section of the wall.
It has been four months since Chastain performed the “Hail Melon” move…and he still can’t believe that he was the one driving the number one Trackhouse Racing car. Previously, the move was seen only as a possibility in a video game.
Chastain reflected on his actions October 30 at Martinsville saying, “it’s more about what it provided for us at the time. It’s not about now. It’s about the wall and what this will symbolize for us forever. I mean, this thing will never be touched. It will always be dirty, scratched up and scraped to the end of time. And for me, that’s just a good, physical large reminder of what that did. It let us go fight for a championship the next week in Phoenix.”
Christopher Bell went on to win his second race of the season that day, but it is Ross Chastain and his “Hail Melon” that will forever be associated with the race.
Martinsville Speedway president Clay Campbell also spoke on the event saying “it is amazing that something like this, that we’re not talking about the winner. We’re not talking about anything else that happened on the track. We’re talking about the move that Ross made, the ‘Hail Melon.’ Usually, when something takes precedent over the race win itself, it’s usually not for a reason. This was for a perfectly good reason. So many people were so amazed by it. The talk that it generated at the water cooler on Monday was off the charts. The exposure that that got – social media, television, it was the talk of everybody. And it still is. So, you know, it’s just it’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime deal.”
The location for the preserved car and wall has yet to be determined; but it would be a great move if both ended up together just as they did on that Sunday in October at Martinsville – whether it be the NASCAR Hall of Fame or the shop at Trackhouse Racing.