Denny Hamlin Disqualified From NASCAR Cup Series Win at Pocono [Updated]

Dramatic doesn’t begin to describe the conclusion and aftermath of this past weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway. During a restart with 18 laps remaining, Ross Chastain and Denny Hamlin were side-by-side going through Turn 1. Hamlin banged doors with Chastain, sending him into the wall and out of the race. Hamlin would go on to win the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 ahead of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch.

Hamlin climbed out of his car to a mixture of cheers and boos. And when asked on the broadcast about the incident with Chastain, Hamlin replied, “What did you want me to do?” and cited the incidents when Chastain wrecked him earlier this season. However, the celebrations were short-lived as NASCAR announced that both the cars of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch failed post-race inspection and were disqualified from the race.

Both JGR Toyota Camrys were found to have material added to their front fascia (or front end) and were relegated to the end of the field as a result. NASCAR wouldn’t go into greater detail about the infraction, like precisely where the material was added. Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director, said during a press conference:

“There was some issues discovered that affect aero of the vehicle. The part was the front fascia. And there really was no reason why there was some material that was somewhere that it shouldn’t have been, and that does basically come down to a DQ.”

After crossing the finish line third, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott took his fourth race victory of the season as a result of the disqualifications. This is the first time since 1960 that a win in the Cup Series was inherited due to a technical disqualification. According to Racer, Elliott was shocked by the outcome and stated, “I don’t really feel right celebrating someone else’s misfortune.”

NASCAR cited the tighter tolerances in the rulebook brought about by the introduction of the NextGen car as a factor behind the infringement. The sanctioning body took possession of both disqualified JGR Toyota Camrys to transport to its R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina for further evaluation. NASCAR doesn’t intend to impose further penalties on the pair despite the infraction being severe enough in the rulebook to potentially warrant expulsion from the playoffs.

Update 4:50pm

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 had explicitly made it illegal to change the aerodynamic properties of the car by installing additional parts or modifying existing parts.