Denny Hamlin eliminated from NASCAR Cup Victory at Pocono

Drama doesn’t begin to describe the ending and aftermath of last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway. During the restart with 18 laps remaining, Ross Chastain and Denny Hamlin side-by-side through Round 1. Hamlin banged on the door with Chastain, sending him into the wall and out of the race. Hamlin would go on to win 400 M&M Fan Applause against teammate Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Hamlin climbed out of the car to cheers and boos. And when asked on the TV show about the incident with Chastain, Hamlin replied: “What do you want me to do?” and cites incidents when Chastain demolished him earlier this season. However, the celebration was short-lived when NASCAR announced that both Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch’s cars failed during post-race checks and was eliminated from the race.

Both Toyota Camrys JGRs were found to have added material to their front fenders (or front end) and as a result were relegated to the bottom of the pitch. NASCAR won’t go into more detail about the breach, like exactly where the document was added. Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series CEO, said in a press conference:

“There have been a number of issues discovered affecting the vehicle’s air system. Part of the front. And there’s really no reason why there should be some documentation somewhere it shouldn’t be, and that’s basically down to DQ. “

After crossing the finish line third, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott won his fourth race of the season by disqualification. This is the first time since 1960 that a Cup Series victory was inherited due to technical disqualification. Based on Racer, Elliott was shocked by the results and said, “I don’t really feel right to celebrate other people’s unhappiness.”

NASCAR cites tighter tolerances in the rule books due to the introduction of NextGen vehicles as a factor behind the violation. The Sanctioning Authority possessed both unqualified Toyota Camrys JGRs for transport to their R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for further evaluation. NASCAR has no intention of imposing further penalties on the pair despite the violation being severe enough in the rule book to potentially be kicked out of the knockout stages.

Update 4:50 pm

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Scott Miller, NASCAR’s Senior Vice President of Competition, has confirmed exactly why Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified. Both cars had additional layers of vinyl on their front fascia. Presumably, Joe Gibbs Racing aimed to round the edges at the front of the car to smooth airflow and give the two cars an aerodynamic advantage. Heading into this past weekend, NASCAR was apparently illegal change aerodynamic characteristics of cars by installing additional components or modify existing parts.