NASCAR has explained its decision to penalise Bubba Wallace at Atlanta on Sunday night.
Wallace was demoted from second to 29th in the official results after NASCAR ruled that he had advanced his position below the double yellow lines at the bottom of the track, forbidden at Atlanta, Talladega and Daytona.
NASCAR vice president of racing communications Mike Forde has admitted that the rule – intended to prevent major wrecks – is not a universally popular one, but insisted that racing at those three superspeedways 'probably would be a lot worse without it'.
Wallace insisted that he didn't gain an advantage from the move, having attempted to slow down and maintain his position, but Forde explained on the Hauler Talk podcast this week that whether or not Wallace slowed to give the positions back was immaterial to whether or not he got a penalty.
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Forde: Wallace could've been declared winner under caution
Explaining that Wallace had absolutely advanced his position below the lines – intentionally or not – Forde said: “Unfortunately for Bubba, attempting to give the position back does not matter in this rule.
"If you go below the line and race below the line to improve your position, that’s where it happens. We determined that he did advance his position in a couple of areas.
"At a certain point, if you look at the replays, he’s in first, and it’s the last lap. So if there is a caution, there was a point pretty close to that start/finish line where he would have been declared the winner.
"Now he would have been black-flagged and still gone back to 29th, but certainly in our eyes, he advanced his position at that point. … At some point, he went below the line, and at some point, he did advance his position, and that was all that mattered, whether he intended it or not.”
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