I think we all pretty much saw this coming.
Chase Elliott has been suspended for one race after NASCAR officials ruled that he intentionally crashed Denny Hamlin on Lap 186 of yesterday’s Coca-Cola 600.
The two were racing hard for 7th place with 15 laps to go in the second stage, when they made contact coming out of turn four and Elliott hit the outside wall.
But as the two headed for the start/finish line, Elliott seemingly retaliated against Hamlin and hooked him in the right rear, sending Hamlin’s car spinning hard into the wall and ending both of their days before the race reached the halfway point:
According to NASCAR,
“In this week’s penalty report, officials ruled Elliott intentionally crashed Denny Hamlin on Lap 186 of Monday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, turning left into Hamlin’s right-rear quarter panel and sending the No. 11 Toyota head-on into the outside SAFER barrier on the front straightaway after a squeeze from Hamlin led Elliott to brushing the wall at the exit of Turn 4.”
Chase will be parked this weekend for the 2023 Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois:
Corey LaJoie will drive the No.9 car in his absence:
Since the incident occurred yesterday, Denny has been very outspoken about the fact that he believed that Chase should be suspended for a race, because of precedent from a similar wreck last year involving Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson, when Bubba wrecked Kyle with a right hook in very similar fashion to what happened yesterday.
On a brand new episode of Denny’s Action’s Detrimental podcast earlier this morning, he explained that there’s no getting around the fact that it was an intentional move by Chase Elliott:
“There’s no explanation he could possibly give, which he didn’t, of a reason for hanging a left.
You know, he obviously didn’t wanna admit it, he did the ‘Ah, I can’t hear ya, sorry. Sorry I can’t hear what you’re saying, but yeah, my car, I just couldn’t drive it.’ Bullsh*t.
The f*cking wheels were dead straight, even after we crashed and destroyed our sh*t. He goes down the back straightaway, and you look at both front tires are pointed the correct direction.”
Of course, Chase defended himself, denying that the contact was intentional when he was asked whether it was retaliation, and said that his car was impossible to drive after getting into the fence:
“Once you hit the wall in these things you can’t drive them anymore, so unfortunately not, no. Just an unfortunate circumstance.”
According to FOX report Bob Pockrass, Chase will need to request a waiver from NASCAR to remain playoff eligible, which has been granted to other drivers who were suspended to other drivers in the past:
Bob also reported that Chase’s team, Hendrick Motorpsorts, will not appeal the decision, but will submit a formal request for a waiver, saying:
“We understand NASCAR’s need to maintain consistency in its officiating. The penalty will not be appealed, and we will submit a formal request for a playoff waiver.”
I can’t wait to hear what Denny has to say about this, and I have a feeling we won’t have to wait too long, so stay tuned…
You can watch Denny’s full comments about the wreck here:
