Chase Elliott tagged Denny Hamlin in the right rear, causing Hamlin to spin around and head on into the wall on the frontstretch during the NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 29.
Hamlin had lifted exiting turn 4 and drifted up into Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Elliott scraped the wall a bit as a result of the contact.
Then, Elliott’s car appeared to turn left into Hamlin’s No. 11, which immediately turned right and straight into the outside wall.
Hamlin’s crew chief Chris Gabehart said on the radio: “That was 100% intentional, it doesn’t get more intentional than that.”
Elliott also retired from the race as a result of his contact with Hamlin.
After Hamlin got out of the care center, he told FOX Sports: “I got right rear-hooked in the middle of the straightaway.
“It’s a tantrum, and he shouldn’t be racing next week. Right rear hooks are absolutely unacceptable, I don’t care. It’s the same thing Bubba Wallace did with Kyle Larson, exact same. He shouldn’t be racing.”
Last fall, Wallace hooked Larson, who crashed. Christopher Bell was also caught up in that incident.
Later, Hamlin posted on Twitter some team analytics showing the data of Elliott’s car:
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
PAyback is a bitch! How did it feel, Denny? Pot meet kettle!
Denny hasn’t ever right hooked somebody going 170 down a straightaway, to my knowledge.
Think Kyle Larson on the backstretch at Kansas a few weeks ago. Turned Larson right and into the wall.
Chase should be suspended a race, based on precedent. Keselowski didn’t hit him until he was already hooking Denny and the steering data showed as much.
It’s tough to argue with electronic data.