Well that’s quite the turn of events…
Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag this afternoon during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway, beating out his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch for his third victory of the season.
Or so we thought…
After the cars went through postrace inspection, NASCAR has announced that both the #11 car of Hamlin AND the second-place #18 car of Kyle Busch have been disqualified, leaving the third-place car of Chase Elliott as the winner of the race.
Oh, and he won it without ever leading a lap.
NEWS: The Nos. 11 and 18 cars have been disqualified following post-race inspection at @PoconoRaceway. @chaseelliott has been declared the winner of today’s race. pic.twitter.com/KRFaZ4x5hP
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 25, 2022
The win would have been the third for Hamlin and the second for Busch this season, but instead Elliott now has a series-leading four total wins with just a few weeks left until the Cup Series playoffs. The move drops Hamlin from second in the playoff standings to 5th.
NASCAR said that the reason for the disqualification of the Joe Gibbs teammates was a problem with the front facia of the car, and that there was material somewhere that it should not have been. Both cars will be taken back to the NASCAR R&D center for further inspection.
NASCAR’s Brad Moran describes the issue that DQ’d the Hamlin and Kyle Busch cars at Pocono. pic.twitter.com/76KncxfBql
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) July 25, 2022
It’s assumed that both teams will appeal their disqualification, and any appeal would be expedited to take place over the coming week.
This marks the first time that a NASCAR Cup Series winner has been stripped of the win since 1960, and the first time both the top two cars have been disqualified since 1955.
From @nascarman_rr: This is not the first time the top two finishers were DQ'd in a single race. The last time was in 1955.
Last time a Cup winner was DQ'd was in 1960, when Emanuel Zervakis was disqualified for a large fuel cell. That handed the win to Joe Weatherly. https://t.co/upbtJ6AZ5R
— Dustin Albino (@DustinAlbino) July 25, 2022
Just when you thought this season couldn’t get any wilder…
