For the first time in the modern history of the NASCAR Cup Series, a win has been taken away in post-race inspection.
Over an hour after the conclusion of Sunday’s (July 24) M&Ms Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono Raceway, NASCAR’s Brad Moran took to the stage and announced that both race winner Denny Hamlin and runner-up Kyle Busch had been disqualified due to front fascia aerodynamic infringements discovered in post-race inspection.
“There were some issues discovered [in post-race inspection] that affect aero,” said Moran, the part was the front fascia… there was no reason why there was some material somewhere it shouldn’t have been… both the [No.] 11, Denny Hamlin and the [No.] 18 of Kyle Busch have been DQ’d. Their vehicles are being loaded into the NASCAR hauler to go back to the R&D center. The final results have been changed.”
#NASCAR's reason for No. 11 & 18 DQ: pic.twitter.com/y5n47IuECn
— Cole Cusumano (@Cole_Cusumano_) July 25, 2022
Third-place finisher Chase Elliott has been credited with the race victory and Kyle Busch’s stage two win has been retroactively awarded to Ross Chastain, who tangled with Hamlin late in the running.
It is Elliott’s fourth win of the season and fifth consecutive top-two finish.
About the author
Jack Swansey is an open-wheel racing editor at Frontstretch.com and co-hosts The Pit Straight Podcast, but you can also catch him writing about NASCAR, sports cars, and anything else with four wheels and a motor. Originally from North Carolina and now residing in Los Angeles, he joined the site as Sunday news writer midway through 2022 and is an avid collector (some would say hoarder) of die-cast cars.
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What about the 4 other JGR Toyota’s?
No kidding. If I were other teams I’d want bubba’s car and truex car checked and I would want to watch. Gibbs up to same ol tricks.
If I’m Blaney I want the truex car checked for sure. Get em Roger.
So what was the issue?
The article says issues with the front fascia material !!! If 2 Gibbs cars had it, then they all did. I bet nascar says bubba and truex cars were already gone.
The kid’s first event and his grandpa is caught cheating. Makes one wonder about all the winning the kid’s been doing. Could answer a lot of questions.
Your right, I didn’t think about Ty.
Reverend Joe will appeal and there will probably be Toyota personnel to hear the case like Mr. H had GM people hearing his appeals.
And how did the cars pass “inspection?”
The pre-race inspection is supposed to find these sort of tricks before the race. How this slipped by inspectors should be investigated by NASCAR.
As for the DQ’s, I think either a disgruntled JGR crewman, or someone hearing about the trick over beers the night before went to NASCAR after the race and tipped them off, “Hey you better check out the front fascias on the Gibbs cars.”
NASCAR stated that this issue was found in post-race inspection because that is when NASCAR removes a portion of the car’s wrap as part of the teardown. NASCAR does not remove a car’s wrap in pre-race inspection.
I’m not shooting the messenger – Thanks for mentioning that strange explanation from NASCAR.
However, how could an aerodynamically significant modification be hid from the pre-race inspectors with just the wrap? I have a feeling JGR and other teams have been using this trick for a while now.
I still think somebody ratted them out, perhaps a disgruntled JGR crewman who suspects he might be on the way out at season’s end. Which makes sense with all the internal turmoil going on at JGR.
They were illegal before the race started and nascar knew it. As long as nascar continues to operate under the chevrolet/hendrick umbrella, Fords/Toyotas don’t stand a chance – they should get out of nascar.
One of the additional things NASCAR does in an after race inspection is remove some of the wrap, and that’s when they saw the different material. Obviously, you can’t go peeling wrap off a car before the race.
The Super Bowl trophy was retrieved from BRADY after it was discovered He was.wearing ladies panties.
I’m tickled that they were DQ’ed. But if they altered a common part, wouldn’t they be subject to the same penalty that Kez suffered?
Hopefully that will come after the R & D center is finished with them.
HAHHAHA all the cheaters at gibbs and2311 like to hide behind God, well guess what you cheaters, God got back at you for your cheating ways and made sure you did not win or enjoy the win, HAHAHAHA
I’ll bet Reverend Joe’s “prayer” after each win ends with, “And please Lord, don’t let them find out how we are cheating.”
NA$CAR says no point penalty or crew chief expulsion for Gibbs. Petty GMR just got nailed prior to the race for 35 points and loss of crew chiefs for messing with the aero. How can NASCAR explain that?
They lost all the points they had gained with the 1st and 2nd place finish. Any further penalties would be announced Wednesday.
I find it interesting that the 42-43 teams lost crew chiefs and money and points, but the 11-18 teams lose the points only. Same sort of violation, messing with front areo.
I’m not surprised that the remaining Toyota’s were not inspected post race. If NASCAR wanted to appear unbiased those cars would have been inspected after the DQ decision was made.
IMO, the two cheaters should be eliminated from the playoffs.