NASCAR Senior Vice President Scott Miller made an appearance on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio where he explained why Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch were disqualified at Pocono Raceway while also revealing that NASCAR did not perform the same tear down inspection on Chase Elliott’s vehicle after he was declared the winner.
Hamlin appeared to win the race with Kyle Busch finishing in second, but after a post-race inspect NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Brad Moran explained the two were disqualified.
He said, “We were doing our post-race inspections, which we would do. 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 it shouldn’t have been.”
“And that does basically come down to a DQ. It is a penalty. Both, first 11 Denny Hamlin and the 18 of Kyle Busch, have been DQ’d,” he added. “Their vehicles are being loaded in a NASCAR hauler. They’re gonna go back to the R&D Center. The final results have been changed to show that the two DQs were there.”
Moran concluded, “They have the opportunity to appeal it. It’ll be all sorted out by next week. Like Mike said I can’t get into all the details of what the issues were, but both vehicles had the same issue and unfortunately they were not acceptable to pass the inspection.”
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NASCAR would then announce via Twitter that Joe Gibbs Racing would not appeal the decision writing, “Joe Gibbs Racing will not appeal disqualifications of Nos. 11, 17 at Pocono Raceway.”
They further detailed within their press release that Hamlin was given credit for 35th place while Busch was given credit for 36th.
Scott Miller finally provided a detailed explanation on why exactly the two cars were disqualified.
He said, “It was on the lower fascia. So everybody understands the fascia is the bottom part of the nose that attaches to the splitter. The nose is kind of a two-piece affair there. The lower part is called the fascia. So it was on the lower fascia. It was extra layers of vinyl that in effect deviated the part from the approved CAD file. And that’s what it was.”
🗣️ “It was extra layers of vinyl that in effect, deviated the part from the approved CAD file.”
🚨 #NASCAR SVP Scott Miller joined @DGodfatherMoody and specified what the issue was on the Joe Gibbs Racing cars of Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch at @PoconoRaceway. pic.twitter.com/7rTyNARxVv
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) July 25, 2022
When asked if they would examine Christopher Bell and Martin Truex’s vehicles, Miller responded, “No. That ship has sailed. It’s one of those deals where we can’t inspect the entire field at that level of scrutiny or we’d be there until about Wednesday or Thursday. Our procedure is to take the first and second place car and a random car. Sometimes a random. Sometimes not. And do that post-race tear down on them.”
“The top five cars all go through an inspection process back through the OSS to make sure the alignment is correct and a visual inspection of the outside of the car to make sure nothing has been pushed, prodded, or added. The top five cars are always inspected, but the top two go through the complete tear down process at the racetrack,” he explained.
Miller then revealed that Chase Elliott’s vehicle did not go through the same tear down process that Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch’s vehicles went through even though he was declared the winner after the disqualifications.
He said, “No, it’s inspection was completed and I’m not even sure if that transporter was still on the premises when we did that. That car’s inspection was completed in the top five inspection.”
What do you make of Miller’s explanation on why Hamlin and Busch were disqualified? What about his revelation that they gave the win to Elliott without performing the same rigorous inspection on his vehicle?
NEXT: Denny Hamlin Reacts To Being Disqualified After Seemingly Winning At Pocono, Chase Elliott Weighs In
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