Race Weekend Central

Chase Elliott Spotter Eddie D’Hondt Suspended After Arrest For Alleged Assault of Pregnant Woman

UPDATE: NASCAR and Hendrick Motorsports have both suspended Eddie D’Hondt indefinitely.

Hendrick announced its suspension first in a statement Wednesday morning.

“We became aware of the situation this morning and have immediately and indefinitely suspended Mr. D’Hondt’s role with our company. We are taking this matter very seriously and will continue to seek additional information about the alleged incident.

“A spotter for this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway has not been named at this time.”

NASCAR suspended D’Hondt indefinitely for violating sections 12.8.1.e and 2.11 of the rulebook.

UPDATE 2: Kickin’ The Tires obtained the criminal summons and warrant for D’Hondt’s arrest from Catawba County.

According to the sworn documents, the incident took place on Sept. 7, 2020, Labor Day. The warrant was not issued and D’Hondt was not arrested until May 12, 2021.

The woman accused of D’Hondt of “FULL BODY BUBB ING (sic) HER, FACE TO FACE AND SPIT COMING ONTO HER FACE, WHEN SHE PUT HER HAND UP AND TOLD HIM TO STAY BACK SHEW AS PREGEANT (sic) HE SLAPPED HER HAND OUT OF THE WAY AND CAME AT HER PUSHING HER BACK WITH HIS BODY.. The defendant is a male person and was at least 18 years of age when the assault and striking occurred.”

Bob Pockrass at Fox Sports obtained more details.

Original Report

Eddie D’Hondt, spotter for Chase Elliott’s No. 9 team in the NASCAR Cup Series, was arrested earlier this month on misdemeanor charges of assaulting a woman and battery against an unborn child.

According to the Hickory, N.C. Police Department’s website, D’Hondt, 62, was arrested on May 12. On the North Carolina Judicial Branch’s website, D’Hondt is scheduled for two court appearances, on June 7 (battery of an unborn child) and June 30 (assault of a woman).

According to North Carolina statutes, battery of an unborn child is described as:

“G.S. 14-23.6. A person commits this offense, a Class A1 misdemeanor, when he or she (1) commits a battery (2) on a pregnant woman. This offense only applies to a battery—that is, the actual striking—not to an assault. It is a lesser-included offense of “Assault Inflicting Serious Bodily Injury on an Unborn Child,” below. G.S. 14-23.6(a).”

The incident report is not publicized on the Catawba County website, according to local officials, due to North Carolina laws regarding this type of assault.

The Cup Series has held two races since D’Hondt’s arrest: May 16 at Dover International Speedway and Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas. D’Hondt was listed as the No. 9 team’s spotter for both events. At Dover, Hendrick Motorsports posted the first 1-2-3-4 finish in the organization’s history.

According to NASCAR’s rulebook, D’Hondt’s arrest could violate Section 12.8.1.e, which says a member “could be fined and/or indefinitely suspended” for “being charged with or convicted of a significant criminal violation.”

Assault is listed as an example.

D’Hondt did not report to NASCAR within 72 hours that he had been charged with a misdemeanor, which violates Section 2.11.a of the rulebook.

 

D’Hondt has served as a spotter at Hendrick since 2011. He’s previously served as general manager of Evernham Motorsports and worked with Chase’s father, Bill, before spotting for Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon and now Chase.

About the author

Daniel McFadin is a 10-year veteran of the NASCAR media corp. He wrote for NBC Sports from 2015 to October 2020. He currently works full time for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and is lead reporter and an editor for Frontstretch. He is also host of the NASCAR podcast "Dropping the Hammer with Daniel McFadin" presented by Democrat-Gazette.

You can email him at danielmcfadin@gmail.com.

Sign up for the Frontstretch Newsletter

A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

14 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jo

“Hendrick Motorsports statement: We became aware of the situation this morning and have immediately and indefinitely suspended Mr. D’Hondt’s role with our company. We are taking this matter very seriously and will continue to seek additional information about the alleged incident.”

Interesting question now is who will spot for Chase and Allgaier this weekend. Possibilities: Trey Poole, Tab Boyd or Bill Elliott?

WJW Motorsports

I’m available.

Jo

Go for it!

DoninAjax

Looks like you didn’t get it.

Tim

Dude he is just doing his job. The accused is a part of a NASCAR team and news is ALWAYS about the driver and crew chief. You are one sad LITTLE man.

JacobSimmons

I feel bad for him

Mike

What the hell is “full body bubbing”?

I’m disinclined to believe the accusation, frankly. The fact that nearly 8 months or so have passed plus the knee jerk accusation = guilt thing makes it especially dubious.

WJW Motorsports

Well, bubbing is bacing as they say. That said – this smells somewhat fishy to me as well. Hopefully the establishment had security video.

Bill B

There is a lot more to this story, I’d wager.

Jo

Like what? Seems like an argument that got out of hand at a jet ski rental place last year on Labor Day. I’m not condoning what D’Hondt did, but it wasn’t exactly felony murder.

WJW Motorsports

Not intending to come at you on this one Jo – but when you write “I’m not condoning what D’Hondt did”.. it seems you have convicted the man already. This is the problem with the way things are done now – people are tried on the internet. There are only a few people that know what he really did or did not do – and I’d expect still the story varies. This is the job for investigators to figure out and the government to then prove beyond a reasonable doubt. After all – it wasn’t too long ago that Kurt was accused of domestic abuse, and that whole story turned out quite differently.

Jo

You’re right. I should have said “I’m not condoning what D’Hondt is ACCUSED of doing.” The more I read about this incident, the fishier it seems. Since this happened in the Lake Norman area, I wonder if the woman (who may be the wife of the shop owner) knew who she was dealing with and saw a chance to make a charge and hope for a financial settlement in a civil suit related to the misdemeanor charge.

Of course, I shouldn’t accuse the woman either, but it’s all the more reason that people like sports figures need to be especially careful not to get involved in this sort of situation.

Tom B

I don’t get the indefinite suspension. Hasn’t NA$CAR or Team Owners learned anything from the Kurt Busch incident? A rush to judgement that inflicts a persons life with great distress.
It appears they waited until the accuser was 9 months pregnant or maybe until the baby was born to make the arrest. It makes for a better visual. It doesn’t take much contact for an assault, just placing your finger on another person is grounds. I’m thinking it’s looks like an opportunity for a big pay day.

Charlie

NC has some strict laws, even bordering on being unconstitutional, when it comes to assaulting a woman. Compound the fact she is pregnant. The truth may not help. Let’s see what happens in court. If this is Lincoln county he has a chance, Catawba, Gaston, Mecklenburg, they need to try and arrange an agreement.

Share via