NASCAR Driver Surges Into Championship Contention By Trying Something He Did On Gamecube When He Was 8

Anyone who's ever played a sports video game can tell you of a time they pulled off something so ridiculous and incredible that you'd never see it recreated in real life (think Greg Jennings putting the team on his back with a broken leg). Over the weekend, however, a real-life NASCAR driver pulled off a massively clutch comeback by remembering his training in NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup on the Nintendo GameCube.

Ross Chastain was in 10th place heading into the final turn of Sunday's NASCAR Xfinity 500, and he needed a top-5 finish to earn a chance at the season's championship. He pulled it off in an incredibly goofy yet nonetheless impressive fashion.

Is this real? pic.twitter.com/1MIIgXiu21

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 31, 2022

Chastain pulled off a ridiculous maneuver by intentionally letting the side of his car hit the wall, flooring it, taking his hands off the steering wheel and praying. Miraculously, it worked, as Chastain pulled past four cars and got the 5th place he needed. It was the NASCAR equivalent of a 70-yard field goal or a full-court 3-point attempt, only with the added element that failure could cause dangerous bodily harm. Here's how it looked from inside his car via the now-viral video.

THE MOVE THAT SENDS ROSS CHASTAIN TO THE #CHAMPIONSHIP4! pic.twitter.com/67Ku712XZf

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 30, 2022

When asked after the race about what inspired him to pull off such a daring stunt, Chastain told NBC that he remembered the technique was effective in NASCAR 2005 for the GameCube, which he played when he was 8 years old.

pic.twitter.com/6NCBuEefz4

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 31, 2022

Though the technique may work in NASCAR 2005 and somehow worked out for Chastain on Sunday, there's a reason all NASCAR drivers don't simply slam into the wall and gun it on the final turn at every race. The move is incredibly dangerous, and if a portion of the car hits the curve in any way that isn't perfect, it could lead to a spin-out with 30 cars driving approximately a gazillion miles an hour headed straight in the driver's direction.

Driver Chase Briscoe shared to Twitter a simulated result of what could have happened had Chastain's video game stunt gone wrong.

We gotta get the realism back into these video games…. pic.twitter.com/EnyFozYa0I

— Chase Briscoe (@ChaseBriscoe_14) October 31, 2022

There was also no guarantee the move would have given Chastain the speed necessary to finish as well as he did. As you might surmise, friction on a moving object is usually a detriment to that object's speed. In 2008, NASCAR driver Carl Edwards attempted a similar maneuver, but the wall slowed him down, costing him the speed necessary to win a race.

"It didn't work out quite the same as a video game."

Carl Edwards' attempt to pass JimmieJohnson</a> on the final lap at <a href="https://twitter.com/kansasspeedway?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">KansasSpeedway in 2008 didn't go as planned. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/NlrZh2WYPp

— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 8, 2022

On Sunday, however, all the stars aligned for Chastain, who goes into Sunday's championship race at Phoenix Raceway with a chance to take 1st place for the season. Unfortunately for Denny Hamlin, who was passed by Chastain and would have qualified for the championship race were it not for Chastain's maneuver, he was knocked out of his chance because he decided to drive like a normal person.