Hendrick Motorsports and more specifically Alex Bowman’s team as well as Cole Custer and his Haas Factory Team have been accused of giving stand down orders to their drivers in order to help Ross Chastain and Joey Logano advance in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

In the closing laps of the Cup race at the Charlotte Roval, Cole Custer had closed to the rear of Joey Logano, but never did get by him. Onboard radio shared to social media by CBS Sports’ Steven Taranto from the final laps of the race show that Custer’s spotter Andy Houston instructed him, “Nice and easy here, bud. Nice and easy.”

Another member of Custer’s team stated, “We can save our tires for a late race restart.”

Saw some people saying Cole Custer didn’t try to pass Joey Logano in the final laps at the Roval so I went back and watched his onboard. Flagged this over the radio with about three to go:

“Andy, you got your watch on?”
“Nice and easy here, bud. Nice and easy.”
“We can save our… pic.twitter.com/w6SFG4DQrR

— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) October 6, 2025

Custer was previously penalized back in 2022 for race manipulation. He was fined $100,000 and docked 50 driver and owner points. His then crew chief Mike Shiplett was suspended indefinitely.

As for Bowman, he was able to track down Chastain, Denny Hamlin, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by the final lap. Taranto shared his onboard and alleged, “Seems like Alex Bowman (apparently) also got a stand down order on the final lap once he caught Ross Chastain.”

Bowman’s team told him, “Easy with it. Take care of your tires here” just as Denny Hamlin was working his way past Chastain.

That final instructed was then repeated as he pulled to the rear of Chastain, “Take care of your tires.”

Seems like Alex Bowman (apparently) also got a stand down order on the final lap once he caught Ross Chastain.

“Easy with it. Take care of your tires here.”
“Take care of your tires.” https://t.co/i8qNDiHyET pic.twitter.com/trIE3Y6uwB

— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) October 6, 2025

As can be seen in the in-car footage of Bowman’s car, on the final turn Ross Chastain sent his car in in a last ditch effort in order to get around Denny Hamlin. He slammed into the back of Hamlin and spun not only Hamlin, but himself out and he ended up getting past by Bowman, Stenhouse, and Logano. He eventually missed the Round of 8 by 4 points to Logano.

Chastain put the blame on himself for missing the playoffs after he made multiple mistakes on pit road, “I single-handedly took a car out of the Round of Eight and a chance to go to the Round of Four. n two months, we’ve elevated ourselves from an 18th-place car to an eighth-place car. We were good enough to run top five. … It’s all on me.”

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