According to NASCAR’s penalty sheet, Chase Elliott received a one-race suspension after wrecking Denny Hamlin out of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Hamlin later told reporters that Elliott’s recklessness was the result of a retaliatory “tantrum.” This weekend at Madison, Illinois’ World Wide Technology Raceway, Elliott will serve out his punishment.
In his place will be Corey LaJoie. COMMERCIAL Promotion “We recognize that NASCAR must uphold uniformity in its officiating,” a statement from Hendrick Motorsports PR was issued on Tuesday. Elliott is the HMS driver of the No. 9 Cup car.
On Tuesday, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition Elton Sawyer gave a SiriusXM NASCAR Radio explanation of the sanctioning body’s decision.
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“We believe it was a deliberate action by Chase after examining all the available resources, including the in-car camera, data, and SMT, which provides steering, throttle, and braking,” Sawyer said.
“The racing on our racetrack is excellent. These automobiles are being driven by some of the most incredible athletes. And things happen in the heat of combat.
“But they have to learn to react in a different way.” The move that NASCAR assessed came with about 15 laps left in Stage 2: Hamlin appeared to get a little loose on Turn 4 and nudged Elliott into the wall as a result.
Then, on the ensuing straightaway, Elliott appeared to make a hard right turn into Hamlin’s right-rear quarter panel — which sent the 11 car sliding head-first into the fence.
The wreck ended the days for both Elliott, NASCAR’s most popular driver, and Hamlin, the 2022 Coca-Cola 600 winner.
Following the incident outside the racetrack’s infield care center, Hamlin stated, “I don’t care. It’s a tantrum, and he shouldn’t be racing next week.” “Right-rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable.”
Then, Hamlin brought up a revenge incident from previous year between Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson, which resulted in Wallace’s one-race penalty. (Wallace races for 23XI Racing, a team that Michael Jordan and Mark Hamlin jointly own.) “Bubba Wallace did the same thing with Kyle Larson,” Hamlin remarked.
The exact same. He has no business racing. tantrum Elliott expressed his displeasure to his crew over the radio shortly after the collision, saying, “(Expletive) ran over us twice in the last four laps.” Was something there that I missed, or not?
After leaving the infield care facility, Elliott handled the situation with more composure. “It was just an unfortunate situation,” Elliott said during the FOX Sports show. “Hamlin’s 11 ran us straight into the fence.
It’s pretty much over after you rip the right sides off these things. “I felt like we were making progress with our NAPA Chevy, and it was nice to be getting stronger.” Our detours were excellent. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach Mile 600 and attempt a shot once again.
Hamlin and NASCAR agreement is not often seen. After the race in Phoenix earlier this year, one of their most well-known arguments arose when Ross Chastain was contacted by the driver of the No. 11 Cup car, who then implied on his podcast, which was aptly named “Actions Detrimental,” that the collision was deliberate. A $50,000 fine and 25 driver’s points were assessed to Hamlin. His second attempt at appeal was not successful.)
Due to postponed events over the Memorial Day weekend of racing, teardown inspection at the R&D Center in Concord is still ongoing, per NASCAR. Any updates upon completion will be announced later this week.
Also on the penalty sheet from the race weekend at Charlotte:
Michael McDowell will have two crew members suspended from the next two events after the 34 car lost a wheel during the Coca-Cola 600.
The No. 18 (Sammy Smith) Xfinity Series team’s crew chief, Jeff Meendering, has been fined $5,000 for tires and wheels not being properly installed.
The No. 74 (Dawson Cram) Xfinity team and driver have been assessed with the loss of 10 points after failing pre-race inspection (because of illegal air ducts).
